Young Justice: Halls of Arkham
by TheBananaSlug
Summary: The team escort Scarecrow to Arkham Asylum, and are forced to be a part of a nightmare that may never end when he stages a riot and fills the place with fear gas, revealing how harsh the mind can truly be in a Serious House on Serious Earth. Includes Joker, Two-Face, Killer Croc, Victor Zsasz, and the spirit of Amadeus Arkham as the main villains. RATED M FOR DARK AND ADULT THEMES.
1. Eat Me

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Batman or Young Justice, they belong to their respective companies. This is a fan-based fiction with absolutely no profit. Please no suing.**

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**The Banana Slug: After my small success (it seems) from my Professor Pyg fanfic, I think I might do another YJ fanfic.**

**This one is a "sequel" of sorts to it. As in, the Pyg fanfic is a fact in this fanfic, a fanfact or a factfic, if you will.**

**And yes, this fanfic's storyline might be similar to Arkham Asylum, but it's not unheard of for fanfictions to do this and it is a damn good storyline to rip from.**

**So, here is…**

* * *

**Young Justice: Halls of Arkham**

**By The Banana Slug**

**CHAPTER 1: Eat Me**

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**BLUDHAVEN**

**September 29, 3:01 PM**

Screams were heard throughout the Bludhaven hospital, patients and doctors running across the halls in fear. Screaming their lungs out and tearing at the wall and their own skin, digging away imaginary insects and trying to get out of this hell. Some have even resorted to attacking others with terror, their fists bleeding from both their own and their victims.

In one office, was a teenage woman, wearing gothic clothing with her black dyed hair and multiple piercings on her body, strapped to table as she struggled against them. Her eyes looking around erratically as she was sobbing uncontrollably.

"NO! Please!" she sobbed, "Help me! The centipedes are everywhere! They're going to eat me! Don't do this! Help me!"

"Help is not needed, Ms. Harold," replied a hissing voice from the shadows, "Only knowledge. Knowledge of fear. From what I can recollect from your ramblings and sobbing, you suffer from Chilopodophobia, a fear of centipedes to be frank. I would love to see the origin of this psychosis, perhaps sexual abuse or…"

"HELP ME!" she screamed, "SET ME FREE!"

"You are starting to annoy me, girl," hissed the voice, "Do I have to cut this session short."

A long arm reached from the darkness and rubbed her stomach, the sleeve was brown and torn, with a tan gloved hand at the end of it was on her. What she saw instead of a hand was a gargantuan centipede, snapping it's jaws as it scanned her pale body.

She whimpered as it scanned her body, and screamed as she saw it bite into her stomach. Blood gushed rapidly from her as she screamed and struggled. In real life, however, this was not the case. The pain, the wound, the centipede…all in her mind.

Suddenly, the door crashed down and revealed the Batman standing in the doorway. The figure looked at him with blazing red eyes, releasing his hold on the girl as he grabbed a scythe from the corner and pointed it at Batman.

"You should be dead," he hissed hatefully.

"Killing me isn't that easy, Scarecrow," growled Batman, "I thought you'd know that by now…but I forgot how unintelligent you are."

The Scarecrow hissed angrily as he slammed his scythe down at the Batman, only for him to dodge and throw a batarang at his forehead. Scarecrow growled as he fell on the floor, his scythe falling out his hands.

Batman stomped on his arm as it reached for the scythe, causing Scarecrow to hiss angrily. "You're better than this, Crane," growled Batman.

"Spare me the redemption speech," hissed a weak Scarecrow, "You know I don't need it."

"No, you would have more up your sleeve than this," added Batman, then demanding Scarecrow, "Tell me, what is your plan."

Scarecrow looked up at him with his dark red eyes, glaring into the Bat's soul, then hissing out, "Nothing…just a bad day."

Batman kicked Scarecrow in the face, sending him sliding across the floor and hitting the wall. The villain held his face in pain, seemingly crying in pain.

The Dark Knight walked to the girl strapped to the table, pulling out a tranquilizer full of blue liquid. He reached to inject her neck with the antidote, the girl looked and only saw a large centipede moving towards her, jaws chomping and saliva dripping.

She screamed in terror as Batman injected the antidote into her neck, but she began screaming and thrashing wildly. Batman pressed his hand on her shoulder, but she began to hyperventilate wildly. She let one final breath, before dying from heart failure…

Batman looked at her with regret, he reached and closed her dead eyes and closed his own in shame. Suddenly, the Scarecrow's sobbing began to sound contrived…sounding more and more like laughter.

With fury, Batman glared at the Scarecrow, still against the wall…laughing madly at the Batman's failure…

* * *

**MOUNT JUSTICE**

**October 26, 10:53 AM**

The whole base was silent, not a word was spoken. Healing takes time, they say. It is true, but time, is never certain.

As the team continued with their lives, cooking, cleaning, sitting around…the scars have yet healed. Scars never leave, but they heal in time so that new scars can be made. New scars that don't overshadow the old ones.

Kid Flash walked into the room with a glad attitude, only to see everyone still in their state of trauma. He sighed and said out loud, "Look guys! Why don't we go out, get some burgers!""Nah, we're okay," let out Robin, who was laying on a couch.

"Artemis? Superboy? Aqualad?" called out Kid Flash, smiling, trying to get everyone out their shells, but to no avail. Superboy only looked away as he sat over at the kitchen, not saying a single word. Aqualad had his back against the wall, his eyes shut from the world. Artemis however was standing away from them all, glaring slightly at Wally. He sighed and looked over to Miss Martian, in the kitchen stirring a pot of pancake batter, "M'gann! Come on! You love hangin' out!"

"Oh…yeah," she said with a forced smile, "I'm…game…but not today, I'm a little tired."

He sighed and slapped his head, falling down on the couch. He had to grunt in pain as he held his broken arm, still in it's cast.

"Wally, we appreciate you trying to cheer us up," consoled Aqualad, getting off the wall and walking to him.

"Speak for yourself," growled Artemis.

"But unlike you…we are still healing," he continued, pressing his hand on Wally's shoulder, "Healing takes time…but we all can't heal as fast as you…"

Kid Flash looked down in shame, then looked at Kaldur and let out, "Bud…listen, I…"

"Recognized. Batman. 02. Black Canary. 13. Martian Manhunter. 07."

As the Zeta-Beam predicted, the three Justice League members walked out of the beam and into the living quarters, looking slightly uneasy.

"Batman," muttered Robin.

"I know this may not be a best time, but we need you to help on a mission," consoled Black Canary.

"If you recall from the incident of November 29, where you had to deal with Professor Pyg and I Scarecrow," explained Batman, "We were able to handle both villains, Valentin was sent to Arkham, and Crane to Belle Reve."

"Seems like everything accordin' to plan, eh?" joked Kid Flash half-heartedly.

"Not quite," replied Martian Manhunter, "Director of Arkham Asylum, Dr. Jeremiah Arkham, has demanded that Jonathan Crane be returned to Arkham immediately."

"Are you kidding?" exclaimed Robin, getting up, "He's not insane, he's…"

"Robin," demanded Batman, Robin quickly sat down, "Belle Reve has it's own problems with Jonathan Crane as well. He upsets the other inmates and guards to the point of paranoia. One instance was when he forced one inmate to eat his own fingers and toes…the inmate had no psychological problems until that day."

Miss Martian watched from the kitchen. She was uneasy with taking another "mentally-unhinged criminal", Professor Pyg was unhinged enough for her.

"Hugo Strange has demanded to keep Crane in Belle Reve, but Jeremiah has legal rights as Crane's psychologist to determine what is **best** for him," continued Batman, "And so, we agreed to escort Crane back to Arkham due to his intelligence, ferocity, and manipulative psychosis."

"Martian Manhunter and I will escort him to the transport from Belle Reve," explained Black Canary, "Batman will then keep guard on said transport, while you wait in Gotham Bay to escort him to Arkham Island."

"All this for some scrawny wimp?" asked Superboy.

"Crane is not someone you want to post as "scrawny" or as a "wimp", Superboy," replied Robin.

"He is a talented escape artist, precautions are needed to ensure he is kept in Arkham Asylum," reiterated Batman, then adding with a cold tone, "For good, this time."

"You will take the Bio-Ship to Gotham and wait at the docks to Arkham Asylum," commanded Martian Manhunter calmly, "Hopefully, we can be able to complete this mission with absolutely no drawbacks."

"Understood," replied Aqualad, "Crane will not escape from us, I give you my word."

"Glad to hear it," replied Batman, who quickly walked to the Zeta-Beam leaving Black Canary and Martian Manhunter alone with the Team.

Kid Flash sighed and laid back on the couch, "I'll see you guys later…damn arm…"

"We'll be sure to bring you a souvenir!" replied Miss Martian happily.

Kid Flash winked and said, "Thanks babe!"

"Again, I am not sure if you are ready for this assignment," admitted Black Canary, "The effects from the simulation…"

"Black Canary, no offense, but we can handle it," interrupted Artemis bluntly, "We won't let the simulation hamper our abilities as heroes."

"…It seems so," sighed Black Canary in worry, then walking to the Zeta-Beam as well.

"Wait for me, I'll be there shortly," called out J'onn. Dinah nodded and teleported out, Manhunter looked over at M'gann, walking to her and resting his hands on her shoulders. She flinched slightly and smiled at him softly.

"M'gann, remember, if you are troubled, I am here to talk to you," consoled Martian Manhunter.

"Oh, don't worry, I'm fine Uncle J'onn!" replied a forcefully happy Miss Martian, looking up to him with a cool tone, "Don't worry, nothing will happen…I promise."

Martian Manhunter looked at her with heavy eyes, then smiled and nodded at her reassurance. "So do I, my dear M'gann."

* * *

**BELLE REVE**

**October 26, 11:43 AM**

Black Canary walked down the halls of Belle Reve along with Martian Manhunter as prisoners from the cells yelled and taunted at the heroes. At the end of the hall was Hugo Strange, a cadre of guards, and Director of Arkham, Dr. Jeremiah Arkham.

Jeremiah was a tall gaunt man, brown hair, strong chin, and a dark glare to him. He was pale as night, and looked haggard and tired. He wore a doctor's uniform, wearing rectangular glasses that haven't been washed for days.

As the two walked to the group, Hugo greeted with, "I am not sure if this is a wise decision."

"Hugo, don't make this any hard than it has to be," replied Jeremiah with his cold and a voice that sounds antagonizing even when he isn't trying to be, "You and I worked together in Arkham many years ago. Crane too. You of all people should know how dangerous he is here."

"There is no escape from Belle Reve, Arkham," argued Hugo with a hint of disgust to Arkham, "He is no danger to us."

"No, dangerous to those animals," growled Arkham with equal distaste, "Who knows how many he will have transported to Arkham Asylum if kept here." Hugo gave him a glare, then sighing with a slight nod.

"Is he ready to leave?" asked Martian Manhunter.

"He has been ready since yesterday," answered Hugo calmly, "He seems eager to leave."

"This is no environment for someone suffering from delusions of grandeur and a heavy messiah complex," added Jeremiah with a calm and caring tone, almost hidden in his antagonistic tone "In Arkham, his psychosis can be properly treated."

"Evil is a psychosis?" scoffed Black Canary.

Jeremiah smiled and said with an arrogant tone, "Black Canary, I assure you that despite his behavior, Crane is by far, not evil."

Hugo turned to the guards, nodding to them to open the cell door. They hesitated, but one did open it slowly. In said cell was Crane, sitting in the middle of it with the lights flickering on and off. He slowly got up and walked into the light, the prisoners growing more silent than before.

Crane was tall, lithe, and pale. He was covered in tattoos of frightening matter, from skeletons and corpses to demons and scarecrows. He had short brown scraggly hair that looked unwashed and greasy. He had a short brown goatee that was perfectly trimmed, in contrast to his hair.

He looked at them all with his dark grey eyes, and giving them a small smirk. "Canary, Manhunter. Just what the doctor ordered."

"Jonathan. Hello," calmly said Jeremiah as he approached Crane, "We are going to take you to the Asylum. You'll be safer there."

"No, my dear friend, they'll be safer," replied Crane, then moving to Hugo quickly as he is grabbed by the guards, failing to get a jump from Hugo, "You'll be safer. Until judgment day when hell comes knockin' on your door."

He was then escorted by Black Canary and Martian Manhunter as the prisoners stared at Crane, giving him hateful looks and jeers. Some would turn away in fear if he glanced at them, which only seemed to amuse him.

"Now, don't worry, Crane," consoled Jeremiah like a good friend, "In Arkham, you will get the care you truly deserve."

"With people like you," blurted out Canary. Scarecrow smiled a bit from that remark.

"Like you?" he would ask nicely. He didn't get a response.

They lead him through the hallways and elevators, he tried no attempt to escape. He would just stand and walk, smiling. They would scan and check him, x-rays and cavity searches, no evidence of fear toxin weaponry in his person. Completely clean.

They lead Crane to a large grey helicopter on the rooftops of Belle Reve, with Batman waiting at the side of the helicopter. While Crane gave a welcoming grin, Batman gave a despising glare. As Crane was being stopped and checked by security again, Canary walked over to Batman and began to voice her opinion.

"Take a look, Batman," she voiced with slight disgust, "That doesn't seem like an insane person, just some evil manipulator. You have to agree with that."

"Perhaps, but it's out of our hands, Jeremiah has full rights to Crane's well-being," replied Batman, with Jeremiah and Jonathan walking past the two and into the chopper with two of the guards, "But with Arkham, they have guards who deal with freaks like him regularly."

"Batman?" called out Jeremiah. He turned to see the doctor already in the helicopter, with Crane looking at the slowly rotating blades tiredly.

"I should go with," explained Black Canary.

"You have done your part," replied Batman, "Let me do mine. I can handle Crane, I always could…" She sighed and nodded reluctantly, backing away as the Dark Knight entered the chopper quickly. It soon took off and flew across the skies away from Belle Reve, to a Serious House on Serious Earth…

* * *

**GOTHAM BAY**

**October 26 11:48 AM**

It was foggy in the bay, Arkham Asylum would sometimes be seen from only a mile way, but it was blurry and obscured. Miss Martian stood at the docks near the ferry, looking at the tall dark buildings from far away into the unknown. She felt someone on the other side, looking at her. From that person, she felt sorrow…and anger.

"M'gann?"

She turned around and saw Superboy, looking down at her with a smile. She smiled back and hugged him. Meanwhile, Robin, Artemis, and Aqualad were on the ferry waiting for the Scarecrow.

"All this commotion for some nutjob," grumbled Artemis.

"Don't take Scarecrow lightly," informed Aqualad, "Even I have heard of his atrocities, he rivals the Joker in cruelty and insanity."

"So, this…Scarecrow," called out Superboy, "How is it that he's so terrible?"

"His Fear Toxin," explained Robin, "It's this compound that causes these horrifying hallucinations. It makes your worse fears come to life, I know. Been hit by blasts of it before, ten tons of W.T.F. the enth degree."

"That all?" asked Miss Martian.

"Other than impaired judgment, increased agitation, and throat troubles, yeah, just that!" said Robin calmly with a shrug and a smirk.

"So, all he has is this fear toxin?" asked Artemis carefully.

"No, he's a psychologist, and one hell of a good one. Demented too," continued Robin in slight boredom, "He gets in your mind. Makes you confused and paranoid. Just don't talk to him and everything should go smoothly. Don't. Feed. The Crow."

* * *

**EASTERN SEABOARD**

**October 26, 11:49 AM**

Crane sat calmly on a seat with one guard beside him and Jeremiah Arkham on the other, he looked around curiously and glanced over at Batman, who was facing away and looking at the pilot's progress, ignoring the Scarecrow.

"Lovely weather, Batman," mingled Jonathan Crane, "Ebony Harold would've loved this time of day…poor girl, don't you agree?"

"You don't get to talk," replied Batman calmly.

"Oh?" chuckled Jonathan Crane, "How totalitarian of you, Batman. Is this what you call **bedside manner**?"

"Crane, if you do not stop talking, I **will** have you put unconscious," replied Batman, not even looking at Crane, "With or without Arkham's permission."

"Might be for your own good, Crane," added Arkham, "I will not have people add to your delusions through conversation." Crane cracked his neck and smiled widely.

"Yessss…delusions…"

* * *

**GOTHAM BAY**

**October 26, 12:55 PM**

The five members of the Team continued to wait in the fog, which did not clear at all during their long wait. As they waited impatiently, Miss Martian's attention was once again to the island.

She kept on feeling the presence of someone on the shores of Arkham looking at her. She felt his emotions, but couldn't read his mind. It was as if it was a blank slate. All she felt was his sadness and his rage.

She lost her attention to the man when she heard the helicopter come to the area, landing on the helipad before them. As soon as it landed, Batman walked out with Scarecrow, roughly escorting him with a firm yet harsh grip to his arm.

"He's all yours, Dr. Arkham," Batman said to the man.

"Thank you, Dark Knight," sighed Dr. Arkham, "I'm sure your young wards can help from here on in…Correct?"

"Ain't no thing, Doc," replied a calm Robin.

Jonathan Crane smiled a bit and looked at the team. "I am to be escorted by children? I wonder what you all did to make Batman hate you so much?"

"No talking, Crane," growled a guard, tugging at the Scarecrow's shoulder. He was replied with a sneer and a cold glare.

"Don't take us likely, freak," growled Superboy, "One word, and you're history."

Crane just smiled at Superboy and nodded pleasantly, being escorted to the ferry as Batman walked to the Team.

"Don't speak to him, don't reply, don't even touch him," warned Batman, "He will try everything to get into your head, make you frightened, paranoid, and angry."

"Robin gave us the rundown of his MO, Batman," replied Aqualad, "We won't let him delay the mission in anyway."

"Understood, and careful," warned Batman again, "Arkham is not a safe place for people like you, most of my enemies take residence here…don't give them an inch. They **will** kill you."

Aqualad nodded as he lead his team on the ferry with the guards and Jeremiah Arkham, Scarecrow sitting on a seat closest to the water. He looked at the waves, watching the dark water splash against the sides of the ferry…

* * *

The ferry drove across the murky waters, with Jeremiah sitting at the captain's deck with one guard steering the ship and the other keeping lookout from the deck down at Crane's location.

He sat as the Team stood around in guard, keeping a close watch on Scarecrow as he fiddled with his thumbs in boredom. He sighed as he squinted at the little light the fog allowed.

"Lovely weather, hm?" he asked, he was given no reply. He looked at Aqualad and smiled, saying, "Feel right at home? Eh? With the water splashing around you? Although, it makes me wonder. How useful are you? Swim good. Talk to fishes. All the powers of Spongebob."

"My abilities are not limited to that, Crane," replied Aqualad, "Those are just a few, my abilities are much more…"

"Aqualad, remember," interrupted Robin.

"Sorry," sighed Aqualad as he looked down.

"Some leader," scoffed Crane, wiping his nose as Aqualad walked away, not giving the man anymore to work with. Jonathan Crane looked around in boredom, tapping his foot in a rhythm.

He noticed Miss Martian looking at the island with concern. He took this opportunity and spoke with her.

"Like it?" he asked her, she only glanced, but did not respond, but he kept on talking, "Maybe you can stay over and I'll give you a tour of it's bloody history. The murders, the rapes, the screams…"

Superboy walked over with his fists clenched, glaring down at Scarecrow, "Shut up. You've said enough."

"You only reacted when I spoke to your green friend," observed Crane out loud, "Does she hold importance to you? Are you afraid I will harm her in sick and deranged ways? Because I will."

"I said shut up!" growled Superboy, raising his fist.

"_Superboy_!" called out Miss Martian mentally, "_Don't let him get to you. He's just trying to get your goat._"

"_Do not give him the satisfaction_," added Robin. Superboy just glared at Crane, but eventually stood down, walking to Miss Martian and putting his hand on her shoulder. This action only seemed to please Scarecrow.

"We are here!" shouted out Jeremiah Arkham.

They all looked to see the decrepit place know as Arkham Asylum. The walls of the tall asylum were dark, gaunt, and covered in vines. From inside the walls could be heard screams and laughter, from the inmates inside. All of them mad. All of them home.

"Mi casa es su casa," chuckled Crane happily, getting everyone's attention, "This is where I belong, with my children…Welcome…to Arkham Asylum…"

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**The Banana Slug: Yes, I agree. There are simularities with Batman: Arkham Asylum. But I am trying my best, it's hard to not dive into that storyline, hell, it's a good storyline. I'm more trying to get into the actual comic book, A Serious House on Serious Earth.**

**I'm tryin', but being serious hurts!**


	2. Drink Me

**The Banana Slug: Fanfic Author Necrosis Crimson has a fanfic similar to this one called, "The Rise of Arkham". Good read. Possibly better than this fanfic.**

**You should go see it, a lot like Batman: Arkham Asylum, but is entertainin' to say the least.**

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**Young Justice: Halls of Arkham**

**By The Banana Slug**

**Chapter 2: Drink Me**

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**ARKHAM ASYLUM**

**October 26, 1:00 PM**

It was only the Team, Dr. Arkham, two guards from Belle Reve, and Jonathan Crane now. The ferry floated to the Arkham Docks, two bored handymen ran over and hastefully tied the ship to the docks. The ramp deployed onto the wooden dock and Crane was quickly escorted off with two more guards from Arkham waiting on the docks, with Superboy and Robin beside the Scarecrow.

Miss Martian looked around the foggy island as they walked down the gravel path through the dew-covered grass. She tried to find the source of the rage and despair she felt from the other side just a little bit ago. All she saw was watchtowers with hardened and disgruntled guards on them, glaring at Crane hatefully…and an old cemetery at the far distance that was blurred by the shroud.

The asylum was tall, over ten stories tall. The windows had bars in front of the dirty glass, some of them either cracked or shattered. This old house has seen much, with many burn marks and new bricks mixed with old ones. At the top of the main door, which was large and a dark shade of metal, had a golden sign in rusted metal, which read, "Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane". Underneath the logo was another set of words reading in Latin, "Liberate Me Ex Infernis"…meaning, "Save me from Hell".

"Damn it!" growled Arkham as the group stopped in front of the front door, "How did Joker get out again?" They looked to see a graffiti of a green smile with red eyes, underneath was green letters saying, "Reign in Hell? Serve in Heaven? Take your pick!"

"He's still in his cell," explained a guard, "Must have been during the night."

"Damn lucky he didn't escape from Arkham Island…this time," sighed Jeremiah, pinching the bridge of his nose, "I want to talk to Dr. Quinzel about this. She's suppose to keep an eye on him, damn it!"

"You want my radio, sir?" replied the guard as he handed his radio out.

"Please," grumbled Arkham, swiping the radio from the guards hands. As he was calling for Dr. Quinzel, Miss Martian heard sobbing from the distance. She looked over at the side of the asylum, hearing something wailing softly yet hushed in a way, hiding behind a corner of the asylum.

She walked over to the corroded corner, looking behind it cautiously and seeing a man huddled up and hugging at his legs. He was wearing a Victorian wear, dirty and covered with specks of blood. He rocked himself in his arms as his shoes tapped against the mud with grass stains on his knees.

"Um, hello?" she let out, "Are you…okay?"

He looked over at her, his black hair messy and covered in dried-up dirt, his eyes were sunken and tired, his face wrinkled and unshaven, and his teeth yellow with some of them chipped.

"…Harriet? Why did you grow up?" he uttered with a shaky and distraught tone, "Why did you have to die?"

Before she could respond, she felt a hand fall on her shoulder. She let out a small yelp and turned around, seeing Aqualad looking at her. "Stay with the group, Miss Martian."

"I…I'm sorry, I heard someone crying and…" she turned around and saw the man gone, she was greatly confused by this. She shook her head and smiled at her leader, following Aqualad back to the group as the door slowly opened before them.

"Little surprises around every corner," told Scarecrow amusingly, "But nothing dangerous…wait a minute, strike that…"

* * *

Crane was escorted to the main hall of the Asylum, it was a magnificent sight compared to the rest of the asylum, as if it was trying to advertise all that was good of Arkham in only one room. They met there by head of security Aaron Cash and his squadron of trained guards. They were all displeased with Crane's return.

Aaron was a tall muscular African American male, with dark hair, a trimmed beard, and a strong face. A definite attribute of his person was a hook on his right hand, and holding a gun at the other.

"Cash, my man, how's the wife?" asked Crane politely.

"Fine, Crane," replied Aaron with distaste, "Talk about my wife again if you want to eat your slop from a straw."

"Aaron," Jeremiah said harshly, looking at the guard. He nodded with a sneer and led them to the examination room. Superboy and Robin entered in there with Crane, with Artemis, Aqualad, and Miss Martian behind them in the main hall.

In the examination room was two long glass windows with guards in the rooms the windows showed, holding weapons and working on the computers. On the roof of the room was a set of strange mechanical devices, looking almost like satellite soon as Superboy, Robin, Arkham, and Scarecrow entered the room, the doors closed from both sides and a blue light was everywhere. "Just a moment, we need to scan for any possible threat Jonathan Crane may have," explained a guard inside.

"As you can see I am no harm," said Crane calmly and innocently, he then looked over at Superboy with a dark grin, "So, how long have you been a couple, boy? You already seem so protective for the girl."

"Shut up," growled Superboy.

"That's the best reply you can give me?" scoffed Jonathan Crane, "No, my boy, I was expecting a more direct answer. Your personality is a bit rough for someone as sweet as her…what do you do when she get's out of line?"

"Crane, don't provoke him," demanded Arkham.

"Given her a few good slaps to the face to make sure she knows her place?" asked Crane, "With your strength I'm sure she'll learn her…"

"Shut the hell up!" growled Superboy, clenching his fists insanely hard and his body almost shivering.

"Superboy," warned Robin.

"Scanning complete," called out a guard.

"What is it? A punch to the nose? A kick in the stomach? Or maybe a traditional slap to the face?" continued Crane amusingly, "Might I recommend the classic, pimp smack on her filthy whore face? If she was my slut, I'd definitely do that to…" Tired of hearing Crane's poisonous words, Superboy grabbed his head by the hair and, holding back his strength as best as he wanted to, slammed it against the glass, shattering it on impact. Crane fell on the floor in pain and daze as the guards were dumbfounded and surprised.

"Stand back!" yelled Arkham angrily, holding his palm at the enraged Superboy without fear.

"I! Warned! You!" roared Superboy at Crane on the ground, shaking with rage. Robin held him back as Superboy took deep breaths to calm himself down.

"You are not to go past this point!" scolded Arkham in rage, "I will not have you smashing my patients like a wild animal!"

"And let him get away with what he said to me?" argued Superboy angrily.

"He will be put into solitary confinement for two weeks if it will stop this aggression of yours!" Jeremiah shouted back angrily, "Now stand down or I will have to ask you and your team to leave Arkham Asylum at once!"

Superboy growled and rubbed his forehead, walking out of the examination room as the doors opened back up, back to the main hall with Miss Martian and the others. She quickly walked over and, without fear or doubt of his kindness, put her hand on his shoulder, rubbing it softly. He looked at her, seeing her calm and enduring face, and nodded, still angry but slowly calming himself down due to her serene kindness.

"_Superboy, don't let him get to you_," warned Robin, "_I can understand the rage, I can sympathize with that, but he only needs an inch and he has you under his fingers_."

"_I'll cover Superboy's position,_" said Artemis, _"Aqualad? Mind if you join me?_"

"_Not at all_," replied Aqualad, walking with Artemis to the examination room.

"_Those things he said…_" growled Superboy with hate for Crane.

"_Were horrible and false_," finished Miss Martian, "_You can't let him anger you so easily_."

"_I know, thanks_," replied Superboy as he smiled down at her, "_You know I'd never hurt you_."

"_I know,_" she said to him, smiling at him as she pressed her hand against his cheek. Aaron Cash walked over and rested his hand on his shoulders, he looked over and saw Cash smile at him with a great friendly calm.

"Don't let that freak get to you," consoled Aaron like a dear friend, "But if I were you, I would have done the exact same thing."

Superboy looked over at Aaron's hook and was silent for a while, "How…did you…get that?"

Aaron raised the hook to his own face as his hand slipped from Superboy's shoulder. He sighed sadly and said, "…A croc ate it."

* * *

In the now normally-lit examination room, Jonathan Crane was still on the ground, huddled up with his hands on his head as Artemis and Aqualad entered.

"Crane. Move," ordered Artemis, holding back a kick to the back. He looked up at her with little to no damage, only a trickle of blood from the side of his head.

"All I did was give my honest opinion," replied Crane as he got up from the glass-covered floor, his hands pressed against the glass shards. He grunted in pain and held his hands together, huddling his hands as he got back up.

"Yeah, no," replied a smug Robin, then pushing Crane roughly, "Walk, JC." With that, Crane exited the examination room to one of the many long hallways of the macabre Arkham Asylum. Many doctors and nurses were walking around, along with the guards carrying high-caliber weapons. There were some patients being escorted by doctors and guards, some were babbling and twitching, some were calm yet foreboding. Men and women, young and old. All insane. All home.

"Hey! Easy now! I'm fragile like a bird!"

The voice was from the Clown Prince of Crime himself, the Joker. He wore an orange prison jumpsuit and had his hands and ankles bound together. He was surrounded by four guards and a single female doctor walking closely beside him, despite the possible danger.

She was thin and beautiful, with a calm and approachable air to her. She had a gap in the middle of her teeth, short blonde hair, freckles, and had a persistently happy expression. She was wearing a doctor's uniform which included a long black turtleneck sweater and a long white coat, along with a pair of rectangular glasses with pink rims. She was in her early twenties, yet looked as if she was in her later teens.

"Dr. Arkham! You wanted to see me?" greeted the doctor with a slightly high-pitched voice.

"Dr. Quinzel," greeted Arkham, "Joker escaped into the commons again, thankfully he did not escape off the island. Graffiti was on the wall that was undoubtedly Joker's handiwork."

"Oh! Did I? Sorry, but I really need to express my art SOMEHOW Jerry! Perhaps that's something you should schedule for me and Harleen here," said Joker with a huge smile, he then looked over at the Team, saying loudly and happily, "Robby-Poo! How's it goin'? Still runnin' around with that group of boy scouts and your two trannies?"

"Joker," replied Robin with a smirk, "No hard feelings for humiliating you back in our last encounter."

"Excuse me, little man, but I will not let you antagonize my patient," scolded Dr. Harleen Quinzel, "We just made a breakthrough and insulting him will only set him down from recovery!"

"Thanks, doc!" sighed Joker happily, then turning to Robin and shouting playfully, "Now, stop bullying me and shove off, sailor!"

"Joker," said Crane calmly yet with a serious mood.

"Scarecrow," replied Joker the same, but keeping his smile.

"Joker, we need to go, remember?" urged Harleen, grabbing his shoulder, "We have a session we need to clear, 'kay?"

"Yes…muffin," said Joker playfully. With that, he was led down the hallway as he looked at Scarecrow and gave an incredibly slight nod. Crane silently gave one back.

"Move," ordered Aqualad harshly. Crane complied with a hiss and was lead down deeper into the halls of oblivion…

* * *

**ARKHAM MAIN HALL**

**October 26, 1:15 PM**

Miss Martian waited calmly at the Main Hall with Superboy and Aaron Cash's squad of guards, looking around curiously at this old house that has so much history and parasites inside it's innards.

She looked over at the right wall and saw something that made her head tilt, hypnotized to walk to it. Over a fireplace was a large painting, a large painting of the man she met outside the asylum just moments ago. The man was well-groomed and looked sane compared to when she first met him, in all of his disglory. He was depicted as standing in a library holding a book with a pipe in his mouth, looking proud and dignified.

She looked over her shoulder to see Aaron Cash walk over right next to her, gazing at the painting as well. "Yeah, that's Amadeus Arkham, the guy who built this place and ran it for most of his sane life."

"…Amadeus Arkham?" she asked curiously, "Mind…telling me about him?"

"Well, they say he built this place in memory of his mother after she died," told Aaron with a frown, looking intently at the painting, "He pledged to help anyone who needed it, to make this place a beacon of hope to those troubled by the mind…but then he went insane after his wife and daughter were murdered, and killed the mad dog responsible through electric shocks."

"My goodness," let out Miss Martian in shock, covering her mouth, "What happened to him?"

"Like I said, went mad and was locked up in his own asylum, his old cell is in Jeremiah's office, his grand-nephew by the by," sighed Aaron, then letting out "Poor bastard, probably was more likeable than any of the other patients in this hell house. Poor guy." As he walked away to his men, who were talking about the weather, M'gann looked down at the lettering at the bottom of the painting, which read, "**Amadeus Arkham. 1893-1979**."

"_This Arkham man, he lived for almost a hundred years_," she said out loud telepathically, "_And…I think I saw him outside._"

"_Impossible, he's been dead for decades,_" replied Robin, "_But, there have been rumors of Amadeus' spirit walking the halls of Arkham. Unable to rest for eternity._"

"_I heard that a schizophrenic talked to Amadeus constantly,_" added Artemis, "_In the end, he seemed normal except for that whole talking to Amadeus crap._"

"_Urban legend, that's all,_" added Robin, "_Howev, there was a case that this guy feigning insanity was locked into the freezer, and was given major frostbite all over his body. No one saw who did it, but the man said he heard someone talking on the other side, as if someone was giving him therapy. But, that's just urban legends._""_But I did see him,_" reiterated Miss Martian, "_He was on the corner of the building sobbing…then disappeared when Kaldur walked over to me._"

"_I felt something there, but ultimately, I saw no man_," replied Aqualad,"_It could either be a psychic imprint, an actual ghost, or somehow Scarecrow infected you with fear toxin._"

"_No, the fear toxin is ruled out, we made no contact…but the other two are quite possible,_" added Miss Martian.

"_It doesn't matter, we'll just drop off Scarecrow and leave this place,_" spoke out Superboy, "_The sooner we leave this wretched hell-hole, the better!_"

* * *

**ARKHAM INMATE HOLDING AREA #2**

**October 26, 1:20 PM**

The metal sliding doors slowly opened to reveal a gigantic three story room with each story having a block of cells enclosing around the room, four hallways out on each side. Except for the first floor, which had one hallway that lead to a large metal door with a huge label painted on it saying, "**SOLITARY CONFINEMENT**", in bold yellow letters. The cells had clear glass doors in the front, with padded walls inside with dirty beds and dirty toilets in the dirty cells. Each cell had an inmate inside it's rotted hold, screaming wildly or laughing insanely. They would bounce against the walls of the cell, some would pace around madly, and some would smack against the glass cell, trying to break free and kill again.

One cell they passed had their old enemy Lazlo Valentin inside it, sitting on his bed without his precious mask, wearing only his dirty white briefs. As they passed him, he gave a loving smile to them all. An action they did not acknowledge, not even Scarecrow.

As they approached the doors to solitary confinement, one inmate was staring straight at Artemis, not looking away and not even blinking. She noticed this and glared at the man.

He was tall and almost anorexic, his cheekbones prominent, his hair gone, and had an almost grey complexion. He had a dark glare as he looked at Artemis with no emotion. A definite distinguishment was from the scars on his body, there were sixty-eight of them covering his chest and arms. He wore no shirt, as if he was trying to advertise these scars.

Artemis walked over and glared right at him, unafraid of the sick corpse. "Do you have a problem, or are you going to make one?" she threatened.

"Perhaps, my pretty," growled the man, showing his yellow teeth, "But when I get out of here, I will cut that little throat of yours and add you to my temple of marks."

Arkham walked over to Artemis and said, "Stand down, Artemis. This is Victor Zsasz, or better known as **the Palisades Slasher**. Apparently every time he kills someone, he cuts his own skin and a "tally" of their kill. I am trying to find why he does this, but…"

"Liberation, Arkham!" announced Zsasz with a wide grin, "I am liberating the zombies of this world from life! The very thing that harms our own existence. Saving them. By killing them."

"Sounds like murder," growled Artemis.

"To your point of view," added Crane calmly, "I find it quite heroic."

"That's enough outta you, Crane," growled a guard, pushing him forward as Robin walked over to Artemis and Arkham, with Zsasz backing away and leaning against the walls of his cell, lifting himself forward and then letting his back fall on the wall again.

"Easy, Artemis," said Robin, "We've done our job, Crane's goin' underground and we can leave this wack-hive."

Aqualad stopped following the guards and saw Robin and Artemis over with Arkham. He sighed in annoyance and began to walk over to the three quickly, but stopped when he heard a sound from the group behind him.

He turned around to see Crane fall on his knees, panting loudly and in pain. He grunted as one of the guards walked to him.

"What's the matter?" growled the man.

"My head…it hurts…" groaned Crane in terrible pain.

Artemis, Arkham, and Robin were only ten feet away from the commotion. Jeremiah sighed and said with a low note, "Must've been from that troubled brute's attack on him. An aneurysm, most likely…" He then called out to the guards and said, "Call the medical team after we get him to his cell."

"Yes sir," replied the guard. He then moved forward and reached out to Crane, Aqualad looked over to see something in Crane's hands…he saw something twinkle. He looked closer to see a razor-sharp shard of glass slid between his palms

"No! Back away from…"

With a blink of an eye, Crane spun around and slashed the guard's throat with a shard of broken glass. Blood spurted out the man's throat as he drowned in his own blood, he was slammed on the ground by Crane himself, who began searching his belt frantically.

"Doctor Arkham! Crane!" yelled the guard in fright as he grabbed his nightstick from his belt. Crane however, grabbed the dying guard's gun and shot the guard in the temple. The guard died instantly and fell on the ground like a rag doll.

Already, Aqualad was running to Crane as Robin and Artemis grabbed their weapons, pulling Arkham behind them for his own safety.

Crane quickly unlocked the cuffs in hand and freed himself from the metal shackles, but Aqualad ran up and grabbed Scarecrow from behind. He restrained his arms as Crane struggled wildly, growling and thrashing like an animal.

"Not on my watch, monster!" growled Aqualad in fury.

"NOW!" roared Crane to the sky. And with that…all hell broke loose. The doors to the cells began to slide right open, every single last one of them. The inmates laughed with glee, running out and screaming like wild animals.

Aqualad got a good tight hold of Crane as he struggled, but a nearby inmate jumped on his back and dug his fingers on his skin, chewing on his shoulder. He had to release Crane and attempt to get the patient off of him, with the Scarecrow quickly running into the crowd of psychopaths and schizophrenics.

Aqualad did his best to try and get the inmate off, but the man wouldn't release his grip, biting and gnawing. Robin had to run up and throw him off Aqualad and onto the hard pavement as the other patients began creeping up to the four, snarling and baring their teeth. Ready to kill them with a smile on their faces.

A noise forced them to looked up at the third floor, with Crane gazing down at them all with a dark smile, clapping his hands slowly.

"Just as expected, just as planned," sighed Crane happily, "How predictable you all were, especially your dumb muscle of a Kryptonian!"

"Crane! Stop this!" yelled out a frightened Arkham.

"I am sorry, my old friend!" apologized a half-hearted Crane, smiling like a lunatic, "In my home, all our welcome to the sweet taste of fear. Soon your nightmares will become reality, and reality will become a nightmare…"

As the patients began closing in, their mouths dribbling with saliva and giggling madly, the Team readied their weapons as Arkham stood behind each of them. In the confusion Jeremiah pressed a small button on a remote hidden in his left pocket.

"I say again to you, my little children," hissed Scarecrow as he moved into the hallway on the third floor, disappearing into the darkness, "Welcome to Hell…Welcome…Home…"

* * *

**The Banana Slug: If I do make mistakes on characterization, I apologies. Pretty much HALF of has problem with that. Hard to get into the creators mind, s'fact.**


	3. World of Pure Imagination

**The Banana Slug: Now, if there is any, the action starts in the third chapter! See! The Joker! See! The Scarecrow! See! Killer Croc! See! Children!**

**Spekkin' of Joker, I am with many people who say Brent Spiner's job as the Joker wasn't that great. Data, you're the boss, but not the Joker.**

**Due to his years from Star Trek, I might give him ONE more chance, but other than that…I say get John DiMaggio on board for his work on Under the Red Hood. Hell, he's a good replacement for Mark Hamill if he truly is retired. Him or Tim Curry. I really don't know why not.**

* * *

**Young Justice: Halls of Arkham**

**By The Banana Slug**

**Chapter 3: World of Pure Imagination**

* * *

**ARKHAM MAIN HALL**

**October 26, 1:20 PM**

As this was going on, Miss Martian sat on a wooden chair pressed against the wall with a cup of coffee in hand, the steam coming out of the dark water calmly. Superboy looked at the entrance of the examination room with impatient annoyance, his arms crossed together as he stood at the main door. He tapped his fingers against his arms impatiently, glaring at the entrance.

"Should it be taking this long?" he asked in frustration.

"Who knows," sighed Aaron with the same level of impatience, "But it should be…" He stopped when they began hearing a noise across the asylum. It was the sound of screams and laughter, chilling to the bone.

"Those the patients?" asked Superboy, raising his eyebrow.

"Yeah, but they shouldn't be heard from here!" growled a suspicious Aaron, cocking his gun.

"_Connor! M'gann! Scarecrow has broken free!_" shouted Robin mentally, "_He's released all of the inmates! We need back-up!_"

"_We're on it!_" shouted back Superboy. However, the examination room doors were suddenly replaced with steel walls, three inches thick with the logo of Arkham Asylum on it. They all looked back and saw the main door become guarded by a large steel wall and locked away.

Throughout the asylum, the doors exiting the asylum in anyway were locked up and covered by steel walls on both sides.

The entire asylum was locked-down, with innocent people and the wild animals they caged forced to stay inside, locked like hungry beasts in a zoo.

"What's going on?" let out Miss Martian in fright.

"Lockdown," replied a hopeless Aaron, "Dr. Arkham has a remote in hand that he can press to keep the inmates inside of the asylum in the case of a riot…which is obviously the case right now. No one can go in or out for ten hours, our only hope is if someone comes by to help."

"Then how the hell are we going to get out?" questioned Superboy angrily.

"We wait…we'll be safe here…I think," replied one guard.

"But what about the people out there? The inmates? The doctors? Dr. Arkham? The rest of the team?" interrogated Superboy in fury.

"It's…it's out of our hands!" replied the guard in a nervous wreck, "We can't override it unless Arkham can get to his office and use the codes to override the lockdown when help comes."

Superboy walked away as he took a deep breath, rubbing his forehead in frustration. "_Aqualad. Robin. Artemis. How are you holding up?_"

* * *

The rest of the Team were behind a door, which had the opening mechanism shot and broken. It was locked shut with no way of opening, with the sounds of screaming and banging from the other side.

Aqualad had bitemarks on his shoulder and slight scratches on his arms, but nothing serious as it did not even break the skin. Robin had half his cape torn, and a cut on the side of his brow. Artemis was uninjured and only was missing a couple of bows.

"_Not good,_" replied Aqualad, "_We were able to escape from the inmates from holding area two, but it is suspected areas one and three have been opened as well. We have one door incapacitated, they will find another way out._"

"_Dr. Arkham?_" asked Miss Martian with concern.

"_He ran for his office, he insisted that he go alone,_" said Artemis, "_He said he was going to call out for help from the GCPD and the Justice League. I wanted to go with him, but he kept on insisting…I relented…it was no use arguing with him._"

"_He's always been a stubborn old goat,_" added Robin with a sigh, "_But…he means well…_"

"_So, what do we do?_" asked Miss Martian, "_We can't leave you alone in there._"

"_Hang it tight,_" ordered Robin, "_We need all hands on deck. Arkham Asylum has been overrun. With this lockdown, you can't get to us, but they can be hacked…unlike the exits._"

"_Aqualad?_" asked Miss Martian, needing an answer.

"_Robin's plan…will have to work for now,_" replied Aqualad mentally to the whole team, then ordering to the members in his company, "Robin, find the entrance to the main hall and see if you can hack into it."

"Might be a tough level," added Robin, "Arkham's got one tough sys, but I should be able to do it."

"Artemis, find Arkham," ordered Aqualad, "He may be in danger."

"Understood," conformed Artemis with a nod, "And you?""I will find Scarecrow and take him down," growled a determined Aqualad, "We have to stop him before he is able to cause even more sever damage. Move out."

They did what Aqualad demanded of them, racing down the dirty halls as the alarms began sounding off, a red light engulfing the entire hallway, blinking on and off. They would split up in different hallways, each on their own mission in hell.

* * *

**JEREMIAH ARKHAM'S OFFICE**

**October 26, 1:29 PM**

Arkham ran into his office with a devil's speed, quickly, with all his strength, slamming the mahogany door behind him. He began panting loudly as he leaned against the door, his face sporting a bleeding scratch across his right cheek and his coat slightly ripped from grabs at his person. He took a calm breath and readjusted his glasses, moving towards his large mahogany desk.

His office was a large one, with two large bookcases against the north wall and a large painting of Jeremiah Arkham between them. On the east wall was a large window that overlooked the garden outside, what could be seen was the beasts running amok, dining on flesh and taking women as they pleased. One the west wall was a door to a private bathroom of his, and on the south wall, next to the entrance was a cell, an old decrepit one from the 19th century with strange markings all over it.

He quickly picked up the phone and dialed 911, waiting for someone to answer impatiently. Tapping his fingers on the desk in his state of stress.

"911, what is your emergency?" asked the operator nicely.

"Hello? Get me Comissioner Gordon, it's Jeremiah Arkham. We have a situation," answered Arkham as calm as possible.

"Hold on," replied the operator calmly. After Arkham waited for a while, Commissioner Gordon answered with a gruff, "Arkham? What's going on?"

"Gordon, the inmates have revolted!" let out Jeremiah nervously, "Crane has instigated a riot somehow! I don't know how he did it…I need you to send the Justice League AND the GCPD. I don't think the younger members can handle this…" As he was speaking to Gordon, a figure was slouching against the corner of the office, holding a scythe against his shoulder. He was watching Arkham as he rambled, smiling softly.

"Alright, alright!" growled Gordon, "I'll call Batman and he will inform the league of this situation, I assume you have the place under lockdown…so stay in your office! It won't take long, I promise."

"Thank you," sighed Arkham with a ray of hope on his back, "Bye…" Jeremiah ended the call and, with a sign of reassurance, rested his hands on his desk, sighing loudly with great tire.

"Arkham!"

Jeremiah yelped in fear and looked to see Crane, holding his scythe as he glared at Arkham menacingly.

"C-Crane…" stammered Jeremiah in terror, backing away slowly.

"My costume," he growled, "Give. It. Now." Jeremiah nodded quickly and without refusal. He bent down and began rummaging through the bottom drawer of his desk, rapidly pulling out a small cardboard box with the name, "J. Crane" written in sharpee.

Without Arkham paying attention, Crane snatched it from Arkham's hands without time to waste, frightening the director greatly. He fell on his chair, sinking deep into it as he watched Crane cradle the box lovingly.

"Never again, my sweet," he cooed lovingly, "Shall we be apart again…" He glared over at the terrified Arkham, the psychotic psychologist grinned and said, "They were wise to let you keep it…to think what I could've done in Belle Reve…hm?"

Without more words from Arkham, he quickly made his way to the bathroom with his box in hand and slammed the door shut, locking it behind him.

"You…aren't going…to kill me?" asked Arkham fearfully.

"No, that would be rude," replied Crane from the bathroom, "Besides, I need you alive…you are my most valuable hostage."

"Hostage?" let out Arkham.

"Calling the Justice League, the only way to keep them out is if I keep hostages," answered Crane, "If they try anything, I'll kill you and your colleagues."

"How…how did you do it all?" interrogated Arkham, deeply in thought and retracing his steps to see if there was anything he missed.

"How? How will be revealed when I decide on the When," replied Crane, his voice growing dark, "The When, I am quite sure, is soon."

"Joker!" realized Arkham, then angrily calling out, "You and the Joker have been working together! He must've gotten to the security control room! I know it! He was heading down that way! That's the only logical explanation!"

"And I thought you were a moron," hissed Jonathan Crane, the bathroom door opening slowly as he walked out with the butt of his scythe hitting the floor with a loud tap. He came in the bathroom as Jonathan Crane and came out reborn as the Scarecrow.

He wore a dirty and torn brown long coat with a hood at the back which flowed down to the ground like a ghostly shroud, his tan and slightly torn gloves poking out the sleeves. His pants were burlap tied around by rope that ended with a pair of large brown old work-boots. He wore no shirt, showing off his pale lithe figure and his many tattoos, showing off his dark and twisted nature to his fellow doctor.

Finally, his mask was a long burlap sack with many two eyeholes and a long stitched mouth that sported a huge opening that gave the impression of a sneer. The mask was tied by a hanger's rope at the bottom and sported a brown farmer's hat with a large torn rim at the top of his head. Inside the eyes were red goggles that gave off glaring and demonic eyes, and inside the sneer was what looked like a type of plastic with many different holes in it, apparently it was his gasmask. So that his own poison wouldn't back-fire on the creator.

"Now, Arkham, if you don't mind," hissed the Scarecrow, "I would like it…if you get out of my office…"

"But…they'll kill me!" pleaded Arkham.

"I'll do worse, worm," hissed Scarecrow, "I'll do worse…now LEAVE!" With that outburst, Arkham shuffled and scurried out of the Scarecrow's new office like a frightened rabbit, Scarecrow watched in amusement as he ran out of the office. As Arkham ran, metal walls fell down in front of Arkham's office and blocked off anyone wishing to enter the Scarecrow's sanctuary.

Scarecrow sighed with pride and walked to his new desk, flopping on the office chair with joy. He leaned down on the chair and looked over to Arkham's computer, he turned it on and entered into the program, "Arkham Control." He looked at the subprograms in Arkham Control, which were "Arkham Camera Control", "Arkham Maintenance", and "Arkham PA Systems".

"Oh Arkham," chuckled Scarecrow, "You and your paranoia…"

* * *

Aqualad entered one of the many unwashed shower rooms of Jeremiah Arkham's Asylum. It was long, dirty, and a female nurse was lying against the wall, dead with her clothes torn up. Her neck was wrung and snapped, with her top nearly torn off.

He shuddered at the thought of her being there and just continued to walk down the shower room with his water blades out and activated in case of attack.

As he walked down, he heard the inmates shriek and laugh from the distance, mixed with the screams of doctors, nurses, and guards. He stopped and looked around, seeing another door at the end of the shower room. Suddenly, he felt something enter his throat that did not bode well with his lungs , causing him to stop and cough wildly. He soon got a hold of himself, clearing his throat and regaining his composure just in time for a very unusual encounter.

He looked to see a bar of soap slide right between his feet, stopping right in front of him. He looked at it for a second, refusing to pick it up. Kaldur slowly turned around to see the Joker, staring at him with a large smile.

The Joker looked different than before, when they saw him with the Injustice League and when they last saw him being escorted by Dr. Harleen Quinzel. His hair was spikier, he put on heavy amount of eyeshadow, and he wore an all-together different outfit.

He wore a long purple trench coat, Harleen's black turtle-neck sweater, and long purple pants. He also had black leather shoes and leather spiked gloves.

Joker waved at Aqualad and greeted with, "Hiya, toots! Runnin' my way?"

"Where is Harleen Quinzel?" questioned Aqualad aggressively, "And where is the Scarecrow."

"Oh? Harleen you be lookin' for? Well, the good girl is probably with the hostages I gathered up per Scarecrow's orders," replied Joker pleasantly, "Poor girl, a victim of circumstances, I suppose…and as for Scarecrow, I say he is everywhere? Don't ya think? Why wouldn't he be?"

"Do not play games with me," said Aqualad with a dark glare, "Now tell me where Scarecrow is!"

Joker looked at him with disdain, then smiling as he yelled out, "Nnno!" Aqualad grabbed him and pinned him against the wall of the shower room.

"People's lives are in danger!" growled Aqualad.

"Have we met?" laughed the Joker in disbelief. He sighed and said, "Look, honey, if you want the answer so bad, go look for it yourself! Stop asking a lunatic where he is. How would I know? I'm crazy as a loon!"

"You are working for him," growled Aqualad, "I am sure of it. Knowing you, this is linked somehow to you!"

"Jumping to conclusions? Sweetheart, a good leader it does not," answered the Joker calmly, "If you want to lead well, you are going to have to interrogate much better than this tripe…and not let everyone die because of your bravery."

"What did you say?" let out Aqualad, pushing Joker harder against the shower wall.

"Well, that's what Scarecrow told me," sighed the Joker, "We have conversations over the phone, y'see. He said that you were all killed by some aliens and you failed as a leader…epically. Yes, I know, crazy stuff, crazy stuff."

Aqualad couldn't be mad at Joker's taunts, but the simulation, he can't believe the Scarecrow knows of the situation.

"_M'gann…M'gann!_" called out Aqualad, but got no response. Suddenly, he heard the doors slam open, he looked to see a cadre of mad inmates skulking over to him. Blood covering their faces, ready to kill without warning.

"I'd get the hell outta here if I were you, babe," said Joker, then began to laugh as the inmates began to run. Aqualad threw the Joker at them and whipped them with the water, knocking them all down. He took this chance to escape from the other door, opening and slamming it shut in less than a second.

"We'll find you! Fishy!" screamed the Joker as Kaldur ran to the hallways, grabbing a nearby pipe and creating a make-shift lock. He panted heavily as the door began to bang wildly. He was panting in fear, wondering why he is afraid of this, when he is suppose to be a leader. He even thought he heard growling from a wolf from the other side as it banged, but it quickly passed.

"We'll find you and gut you! Scale you!" laughed the Joker as Kaldur quickly ran away from the shower room door in terror, "And then! We'll feed you to the croc! Tick tock! Tick tock! AAAAAH HA HA HA HAAAA HA HAAAAA! NYAAAAH HA HA HAAAA!"

* * *

As Artemis walked down a hall, hitting one inmate in the back of the head carelessly with a boxing glove arrow before it could notice her, she sighed in boredom and began looking around. She saw a cadre of dead bodies littered across the floor, both workers and inmates. She shook her head as she continued down her way.

Sooner than later, she encountered what seemed to be a dead end. It was a barricade, made of tables, chairs, and duct tape, with a makeshift sign saying, "WRONG TURN IN ALBUQUERQUE" written in fecal matter. Without provocation, she began coughing wildly, pressing her fist against her mouth. She quickly got her breath back and spotted a door at the side. She walked to it and opened it, revealing the outside splendor of it all.

It was a large garden with beautiful trees and flowers, with marble statues covered in vines and a large fountain surrounded by benches in the middle of the cobblestone walkway. The whole area was enclosed by the building, creating a large wall to protect Gotham from the world. It was serene and peaceful, a stark contrast to the inside of the beast.

"I thought during lockdown the outside was supposed to be closed off…" she said to herself.

"Only the **outside **world!" called out a voice, "But **here**! **We're** allowed to roam this! Such a loverly place, hm?" She turned around to see someone sitting at a stone table with four other inmates, all of them drinking tea.

The main one was a tall and lanky figure, wearing a bloody doctor's uniform and wearing a large top hat with a card stuck to the side of it, saying, "10/6". The man was pale, had long red hair, a long pointy nose, a huge overbite, and bizarrely wide eyes.

"I'm so glad you came, dear Alice!" greeted the man, the other four inmates looked at her and waved happily, giggling with glee.

"My name is Artemis," she replied, walking over to the patient none other than the Mad Hatter.

"Oh! You silly girl! Did you forget your name as well?" scoffed Jervis, "How pathetic! Silly fool! Oh! But come, come! Have tea with me! Please! It's my special tea! My specialty! Hoo hoo!"

"Not interested," replied Artemis with distaste, "I am looking for Dr. Jeremiah Arkham, do you know where he is?"

"Nasty man!" grumbled the Mad Hatter, "He took my hat away, the cad! I begged and begged! But he said it was for my own good! No! I am nothing without it! DOESN'T HE SEE THAT!" He slammed his hands on the table and growled angrily, startling Artemis.

"Calm down!" ordered Artemis harshly, but stopped and took a deep breath, then demanding calmly, "Please."

"Oh. Quite right!" replied Mad Hatter happily, which was followed by the clapping of the other inmates, "So, you are looking for Dr. Arkham? Did you try his throne room?"

"His office?" asked Artemis, "Yeah, but I was sidetracked by barricade."

"Ooooh! A barricade! How delightful!" laughed Jervis Tetch, "Tell me all about it when you get back! I dare say it must be my old friend Joker! He has such a wicked sense of humor! Always makes me laugh so hard, that it kills the time."

"Hm," replied an unamused Artemis, "Do you think you could help me find Arkham?"

"Oh! No, no, no, no, no, nononono!" replied a nervous Mad Hatter, "You see, I am enjoying my Unbirthday! His unbirthday! His unbirthday! YOUR birthday! But not his…today's his birthday. It's such a jolly day! How grand! Please join us!"

"Perhaps later," sighed an uninterested Artemis.

"I'll take your word for it, my dear Alice!" giggled the Mad Hatter, looking at his broken watch. He tapped at it as the inmates around him giggled and drank their tea.

As Artemis left the group, she remarked out loud, "Curiouser and curiouser…" As she walked down the cobblestone path, someone or something was watching her from the trees. The figure held a knife in hand, scratching the bark slowly as he watched her, waiting for the exact moment to strike.

* * *

Robin however, was walking down the halls of Arkham without trouble. He memorized the whole complex left and right, no possible way he could get lost in a situation such as this. He soon began to sweat, looking around and seeing dead bodies on the ground, either with their throats cut or their skulls smashed in. His boots would splash against the blood-drenched floors with every step.

One such body that made him uneasy was that of a naked man, his face ripped off and crucified on the wall with a pentagram of blood behind him. Over him, letters written in blood said, "FEEdiNG timE!" He looked over to the door to the examination room, which also had letters of blood over it, reading, "ALL hAiL tHE SCArECrOW!"

"Keep it together, Robin," he said to himself, "Think Batman, calm and stoic. Think calm and stoic."

As he began walking to the door with quick pace, he heard a faint voice from the changing room in the hallway to his destination. He looked over to the open door and saw someone rummaging in the lockers. He took a peek inside, seeing a thin bald man in a brown fedora and trench coat over his prison uniform as he was packing extra clothes into a suitcase.

"Thirty days…have September…April, June, and November…" he muttered to himself softly, "All the rest…have thirty-one. Except for February…which has twenty-eight…"

He was interrupted by Robin, who began to cough involuntarily. He tried to stop, but it took him some time to clear his throat.

The man smiled and said, "But on leap year…twenty-nine…"

"Going somewhere, Calendar Man?" interrogated Robin, "Plan on leavin' earlsies?"

"I have to, friend," replied Calendar Man, looking over at Robin, "It's almost Halloween." He was egg-white, with eyes suffering from jaundice and his teeth as yellow as popcorn. Around his bald head was letters, the first three letters of each month circling his entire head.

"And I am suppose to let you go?" scoffed Robin.

"Am I that important?" asked Calendar Man, "Don't you have some friends you need to help enter the asylum?"

"Good point," sighed Robin playfully, "But you **do know **that the asylum is under lockdown."

"Obviously, Robin," sighed Calendar Man as he closed his suitcase and held it in his right hand, "So, I'll wait. Halloween is coming, Robin…when the dead rise and the spirits congregate…how appropriate the Scarecrow is here a few days before…he so does love this holiday…"

He continued to reminisce as he walked past Robin, who saw no threat from him currently, "I remember…he and I worked together last Halloween, where he and I secretly laced the punchbowl of a high school Halloween party…you remember, right? When the screams of freshmen, sophomores, juniors, AND seniors were heard throughout the halls…I believed the school was sued…and we were taken back to Arkham."

"Yeah…how 'bout we **don't** that again?" asked Robin tauntingly, "I'd hate to break your fat jaw again."

Calendar Man simply chuckled and tipped his hat, "Happy Halloween…" And with that, he walked away, passing by where the corpse was once was…apparently it was taken away as Robin was speaking to Julian Day. Robin shrugged this off and ran to the door, banging wildly on it.

"Hey! It's me! It's Robin!" he called out loudly.

* * *

"_We can hear you,_" replied Miss Martian telepathically, sitting on a chair facing the portrait of Amadeus Arkham, "_I've been trying to reach the others, I haven't got any responses from them._"

"_We can't open the door from here,_" told Superboy as he walked to the doors, "_I could possibly force them open, but if I break them, the guards will be left without a way to keep the inmates from getting to them…You can hack them, right?_"

"_Ain't no thing, Supes!_" replied a proud Robin, who pulled out his holographic computer and began deciphering the code. He grunted as he got a few incorrect, but he expected this though. As he said, Arkham's system was very tight.

"_Robin! Robin!_" called out Miss Martian telepathically, walking to the door beside Superboy. She then said to him with disbelief, "I can't get through to Robin! He's not answering! It's like…like his mind is closing me out for some reason."

"What's the matter?" asked Aaron as he walked over.

"There's someone with him!" replied Miss Martian with fright, "Somebody's in the hallway with him!"

"Maybe it's Aqualad or Artemis," thought Superboy, "It could even be Dr. Arkham.""No, it's neither of them," revealed M'gann nervously, "He's…It's large, angry…and very hungry…"

At the last word, Aaron's eyes widened at the realization. Before he could voice his opinion, the doors opened and Robin stood there triumphantly.

"See? Not a big problem!" he gloated happily, but suddenly frowned when he saw Miss Martian look at him in shock, Aaron with terror, and Superboy with aggression.

"Uh…what's going on?" he asked in his confusion…not noticing the large menacing figure behind him.

Glaring at everyone with his red reptilian eyes with white sharp teeth visible as a long red tongue slid around his mouth.

"…Killer Croc is behind me, isn't he," sighed Robin.

* * *

**The Banana Slug: *grabs the Idiot Ball* Damn this thing is fun!**


	4. Did I Kill Anyone?

**The Banana Slug: I seriously do NOT know how many chapters this is going to be…**

**10 chapters. 12. The maximum I want is 15.**

**So many fuckin' ideas. It's hard to write seriously again, been so damn long…**

* * *

**Young Justice: Halls of Arkham**

**By The Banana Slug**

**CHAPTER 4: Did I Kill Anyone?**

* * *

**ARKHAM ISLAND**

**October 26, 2:07 PM**

On the foreboding shores of Arkham, a multitude of police boats surrounded the whole perimeter, with many news helicopters surrounding the island skies like vultures. The GCPD swat teams surrounding the asylum walls with the heaviest artillery.

At the locked-up front gates were Commissioner Jim Gordon and Detective Renee Montoya, staring at it, trying to figure out a way inside, as the helicopters flew above them.

"Goddamn pigs!" growled Gordon, "Don't they have any moral decency at all?"

"They're just covering the area," replied Renee.

"Yeah, gettin' a brand new story to sell and get the only things rats like them care about: Ratings," ranted Gordon. He then looked behind himself, hearing the sound of jet engines.

From behind Gordon landed the Batwing. As soon as it did land, Batman instantly jumped out and walked to Gordon quickly.

"Just you?" joked Gordon.

"No," replied Batman frankly. Gordon and Renee looked to see Martian Manhunter and Superman descend from the sky, and saw Black Canary, Aquaman, and Green Arrow walking from the shore to the three.

"Didn't expect you to bring so many," sighed Gordon in disbelief.

"No offense, Gordon, but our kids are in there," replied Green Arrow, "We need to get them out before those psychos rip them apart."

"What's the situation?" demanded Superman calmly.

"Scarecrow's taken the whole asylum as his, the patients are runnin' around, and we don't know who is dead and alive," replied Gordon with a gruff tone, grabbing a cigar and quickly lighting it when he pressed the cigar in his lips.

"Is there anyway you can contact them?" asked Renee.

"I am able to reach out to them telepathically," explained Martian Manhunter, "And I believe Batman is able to…"

Before he could say anymore, a Channel 5 helicopter began descending near the group. Gordon growled in fury and threw his cigar on the ground.

"I swear to God! I am going to wring that son of a bitch's neck!" he roared as he stomped over to the helicopter. Batman and Superman calmly and quickly walked to the helicopter with Gordon.

Reporter Jack Ryder got out quickly in a torrent of sweat, looking at the three in a worried state.

"I am sorry, you need to vacate the area," calmly ordered Superman, "For your safety."

"That's for damn sure," growled Gordon threateningly.

"No, listen," explained Jack quickly, "I have a transmission from Arkham! It's going on every channel! You need to see this!" They all looked at each other, then did as Ryder revealed and entered the helicopter, looking at the small TV screen inside.

"What's going on in the transmission?" questioned Batman.

"Nothing, it's just static but it's coming from Arkham Asylum," replied Jack, "I know it!"

Suddenly, from the static was heard someone singing a dark and hushed tune as the person tried to contain laughter.

"Heheheh…I had a little monkey. Sent him to the country, fed him on gingerbread, heheh…Along came choo-choo…knocked my monkey koo-koo… and now, my monkey's dead…"

The video received focus and revealed the Joker standing in the asylum cafeteria, holding a gun and a male nurse by the collar, the man was kneeling on the floor, sobbing uncontrollably as Joker stood with a large grin on his face.

"Good evening, ladies and gentleman!" giggled the Joker, "We bring you an announcement from Hell! And not to worry, no giant plants will be killing you this fine evening. We have taken control of the inferno, and are holding the demons hostage. Our demands? Leave. Us. Alone."

Batman and Superman looked at each other with confusion, with the Joker looking at the camera happily and twirling his gun around. "Yes…I did say that right. Just leave us alone. This is our house now. And we really don't want people coming in our home and tracking blood and shit, don't you agree? Besides, the whole place is poison to the good! Any attempt will only make you part of our happy family."

He sighed and looked at his gun lovingly, "Y'know, this reminds me of a joke…for some reason…I think I'll tell you!"

Joker then pressed the gun against the side of the hostage's head and rested his chin on his bald head. "This guy goes to the hospital. Got it? Well, his wife just had a baby and he can't wait to see 'em both! He's ecstatic! He's elated! Most of all, he's nervous! He goes to the doctor and says, "Doc! I'm worried sick! How are they?" The doc looks at him calmly and says, "They're fine! Just fine! Your wife just delivered a healthy baby boy and they are waiting for you in the next room! They're dying to meet you!" And so, the guy rushes to the room without a moment to waste! When he enters, he finds it empty with his wife nowhere in site! "Doc?" he says with a dumbfounded look, turning around. Oh, here comes the clincher! The doctor is behind him with all the nurses and they all yell, "SURPRISE! Your wife's dead and the baby's a spastic!"

He then shoots the man in the head, blood spraying the camera as screams of shock and terror are heard in the background, and the sound of someone yelling at them followed by a hard smack.

"I should be on TV! NYAH HA HAAAA HA HAAA!" laughed the Joker, he then orders with the camera at his face, "No one enters the asylum! No Batmen! No Supermen! No Aquamen! No nobody! Or the hostages all die with a smile on their faces! And don't think we won't know! We will! Who'd miss some thug wearing brightly colored undies. I know I wouldn't! AAAAH HA HAAAAA!"

After that, the transmission ended, returning to the regularly scheduled program. Jack turned off the TV as Superman stood back, shocked by the image of the Joker carelessly killing a man all for some sick joke.

"He's…a monster," growled Superman with hate.

"He'd take that as a compliment," growled Batman, getting out the helicopter and walking to the other members of the Justice League with Gordon at his side.

"What's the situation?" questioned Black Canary.

"Not good," replied Batman, "Joker has hostages, we make any attempt to enter the asylum, we risk their lives. His, or Scarecrow's, only demand is that they are left alone."

"We can't allow that," said Martian Manhunter with a dark tone, "Those hostages are in danger every minute. My niece is in there with those madmen, along with your ward, we need to do **something**!"

"J'onn, I know the stakes," sighed Batman, resting his head on his forehead, "I should have done this by myself…what was I thinking..."

"Look, we knew the risks," consoled Green Arrow, "They did too, and knowing them, they are kicking serious ass."

Superman walked over to the group, looking at the asylum as windows broke inside. "Are you sure you can't phase into there and rescue the hostages one by one?"

"No, too risky," explained Martian Manhunter, "Besides, if this is Scarecrow we are dealing with, then it means he flooded…" He soon realized his own implications, as did the rest of the League in horror.

"Martian Manhunter, is there anyway we can contact Miss Martian and the rest of the Team?" questioned Aquaman quickly.

"I'll try," replied J'onn with concern. He then called out telepathically, "_M'gann! Are you alright?_"

"_Uncle J'onn! We're in trouble!_" she yelled out.

* * *

Inside the now tattered main hall, Miss Martian stood near the main gate, using her telekinesis to throw heavy furniture at a beastly assailant, with little to no effect. Superboy was thrown against the wall with a claw mark ruining his shirt, landing next to Miss Martian. He was followed by Robin, he only landed on his feet next to M'gann.

"Keep firing!" yelled Aaron Cash, who was shooting at the inmate with his semi-automatic, his guards following suite.

Suddenly, one guard was grabbed by the beast, growling as he screamed in terror. He wildly shot at the monster, his gun quickly ran out of ammo.

"Help me!" was the last words he said before his head was bitten off. Blood sprayed from his neck, his body limp like a rag doll.

"Oh my…" let out Miss Martian in horror, "It's evil!" The dead body was thrown at Miss Martian who blocked it with her telekinetic powers and dropped it on the floor. She suddenly began to have a coughing fit, falling on her knees as Superboy rushed over and helped her up.

The inmate was the beast known as Waylon Jones…AKA Killer Croc. He was eighteen feet tall with incredibly monstrous muscles and arms as big as tree trunks. He was covered in murky green scales, dark green spikes covering his back, arms and face, red reptilian eyes full of burning hate, and a maw of sharp yellow teeth as jagged as a real crocodile's.

"I…am starving!" he growled, his voice like a gutter in a hurricane, "I…will eat you! Rip your skin! Chew your innards!" With that, he let out a terrifying roar as he ran to the three, grabbing one guard and ripping him in half, the blood spraying on the floor like a splash of water from a large bucket.

Superboy roared back and ran at Croc, slamming his fist into the beast's face with a powerful jump forward. This sent Killer Croc stumbling back, but replied with a swipe to Superboy's side. This blow sent him to the wall again as Croc ran at him. Robin jumped on Croc's back and began slamming his bo stick at the side of his face, causing Croc to stumble around in pain, roaring like a beast. Superboy climbed back up, running at Croc and ramming his fists wildly into Croc's stomach without stop and with super speed.

"Get! Off! ME!" growled Killer Croc, roaring as he grabbed Robin and threw him at Superboy. He caught Robin but, in the distraction, Croc slashed at Superboy, sending him head-first against another wall.

Miss Martian, was terrified during the whole ideal, unable to move. She contemplated throwing more objects at him, using her ability to increase her size and strength, or even try to unlock something in his mind.

However, his beast-like nature frightened her, that she began to question if attacking head-on would be suicide. His strength could easily over-power her in any case, and one mistake she would end up as that guard without a head…or worse. And entering his mind risked hers becoming as fragmented as his.

Before she could actually do something, Croc spun his head directly at her. This act made her want to scream, but all she could do was back away at the door.

"Martian…" growled Killer Croc with a sick and twisted grin, "Gonna eat you up!"

"No! Leave me alone!" pleaded Miss Martian.

"M'gann!" yelled out Superboy, who quickly got up and ran at Croc, "Touch her and I'll…"

Croc quickly grabbed Superboy and slammed him against the floor repeatedly. "Tenderize the meat!" growled Killer Croc with a laugh, "Then…supper time!"

"Leave him alone!" screamed Miss Martian, getting all the courage she could muster up and stomping one step to him.

She stepped back when he glared and snarled at her, she was again backed against the wall as he stomped towards her with Superboy at hand. Robin attempted to get up from the floor, but was too beaten for the moment. Hails of bullets didn't even stop Croc as they bounced off his back, Aaron and his men attacking bravely.

"_M'gann!_" called out Martian Manhunter in panic, "_Talk to me! M'gann! M'GANN!_"

Miss Martian stared at Killer Croc's eyes, his eyes like a dragon's. She knew, in her heart, he meant to kill her…and like it. So, her eyes glowed green as she glared at him angrily.

Suddenly, Killer Croc dropped Superboy and grabbed his head, roaring in pain. "AAAAGH! MY HEAD! MY HEAD IS ON FIRE!" he roared in agony, he continued to thrash about and hold his head in pain. He quickly turned around and bolted out the door, running past the guards as he ran out of the main hall through the examination room.

"I'll find you, bitch!" he roared in the distance, "I'll find you and eat you! Gnaw on your bones! Devour your flesh! Kill you, kill you, kill you…"

Miss Martian watched Croc run away, feeling empty for a moment. Superboy grunted as he got up, walking over and helping Robin up.

"What did you do to him?" asked a bewildered Superboy.

"…I…made him think his head was on fire," replied an ashamed Miss Martian, looking down at the Robin and Superboy looked at each other in surprise. "Miss Martian…that's kinda…" let out Robin, "Creepy."

"He was going to eat me!" argued Miss Martian, offended greatly, "Was I suppose to let him?"

"No," answered Superboy, "But…that seems a bit extreme."

"It's…it's temporary," sighed Miss Martian, looking away with shame, then letting out, "Are my…psychic powers…that dangerous?" Neither Superboy nor Robin could answer, they just stared at her.

"That son of a bitch deserved it!" added Aaron Cash furiously, walking to the two, "Beast took my hand once! He deserves to be in hell for a while in his worthless life."

"Aaron, will you and your men be alright by yourselves?" asked Robin, walking over to him.

"Yeah, we'll keep up the fort," Aaron answered with a smile, "Just lock the door on your way out."

Robin nodded and turned to M'gann and Connor, saying telepathically, "_Okay, I'll go find Artemis and find Dr. Arkham. Superboy and Miss Martian, you find Scarecrow. Aqualad could use your help._"

"_M'gann? Are you alright?_" called out Martian Manhunter.

"_I'm…I'm fine…_" replied Miss Martian, "_We were just attacked by Killer Croc, but we drove him off. We're fine now…Uncle J'onn?_"

She was given no response again, she shook her head and said, "_Strange, I keep on loosing mental links like a phone in a subway tunnel._"

"_You've got to be kidding!_" groaned Robin.

"_I don't know the problem either,_" added Superboy, "_We tried to warn you that Croc was behind you, then…_"

"_What in Poseidon's name were you three!_" yelled out Aqualad angrily, "_I have been calling you for minutes! What is a matter with you all! One failure and I'm out of the loop? One damn simulation failure? Is that it? Is it?_"

"_Kaldur! Calm down!_" consoled Miss Martian, surprised by Aqualad's tantrum, "_I've been experiencing problems with everyone! You're not the only one…I'm sorry…"_

"…_No…I don't know why I lost my cool there,_" let out Aqualad, "_I…don't know what came over me…I'm just…so tense…_"

* * *

Aqualad was walking down the hallways, looking around every corner in case of any surprises to come.

"_What happened during the silence?_" asked Aqualad, "_Any luck with Artemis?_"

"_I'm here,_" she called out, "_What's this about silence? I just suppose you all had everything under control._"

"_I've been losing people left and right, as if your brains are keeping me out for some reason…_" explained Miss Martian, "_I can't explain it right now…I'm not quite sure what's going on._"

"_Any luck on finding Dr. Arkham?_" questioned Aqualad.

"_I haven't seen him for a while,_" replied Artemis, "_He has to be around here somewhere…this place is like some sort of maze!_"

"_That's Arkham Asylum for you,_" joked Robin.

As Aqualad was walking, he noticed a commotion coming from one room, laughter and sobbing. He pressed his back against the wall and listened from near the doorway, hearing voices on the other side. He poked his head slightly out and saw the Joker, waving around a gun and a tuna-fish sandwich. Many of the hostages were there, including Dr. Harleen Quinzel, who was sitting on a chair and looking directly at the floor. Since her sweater was taken by the Joker, her coat was buttoned up with her cleavage seen along with part of her red bra.

"Boys! I do believe this plan is one HELL of a success!" sighed the Joker happily, "Agree?"

"Hell yeah!" laughed a second voice, revealing to be a large man in a inmate uniform, holding a shotgun and resting it on his shoulder. A defining feature was his black mask, it looked like a skull with glaring red eyes coming from the eyeholes.

"A whole asylum to ourselves! Running amok and killing people left and right!" listed down Joker, "Blood and sex throughout the hospice! And all the Sloppy Joes we can eat!"

"But what about the hostages?" asked Black Mask, pointing his shotgun at the terrified masses, "When do we ice 'em?"

"All in good time, sweetie. Trust the Scarecrow," cooed the Joker, "Once we are done with the brats, we'll splatter their brains and make our daring escape from Arkham! Capiche, cupcake?"

"Capiche, and call me cupcake again, I'll slit your fuckin' throat," growled Black Mask, pointing the shotgun at the unscathed Joker.

"Okey-dokey, cupcake!" he said, then giggling as Black Mask growled in annoyance. Joker then grabbed Harleen's arm, causing her to yelp in fright as she was dragged by him. He exited the room as Aqualad quickly hid behind another corner. With Harleen still in hand, he turned to Black Mask and called out, "I'm takin' the doc for a spin, y'see any brats try and enter the place, ice as many hostages as needed! Don't bother with the jailbait, they won't attack if you got the upper hand, 'kay?"

"Good thinkin', why didn't I think'a that?" snarked Black Mask, loading his shotgun as a cadre of gun-wielding maniacs were behind Black Mask.

"Harvey should be down to help ya with the crowd," told Joker, "Just to keep ya company. Remember, dinner at eight, bed by nine. Mommy and Daddy will be back by eleven in a state. Nyeheheheh!" With that, he dragged a shocked Harleen down the hall, him tugging her all the way out of sight.

"_Joker and Black Mask have hostages,_" informed Aqualad, "_They are planning on executing all of them if we try and save them._"_

* * *

"_What do we do?_" asked Superboy as he, Robin, and Miss Martian were in the middle of the examination room, ready to exit into the halls. He gave a quick cough, which passed fairly quickly. "Damn."

"_Scarecrow is our prime objective, take out Scarecrow, and then we will take the hostages,_" replied Aqualad calmly.

"_What if they execute them if we attack Scarecrow?_" pointed out Miss Martian.

"_Scarecrow wanted us to stay inside, he wanted any help to stay outside, don't you see?_" revealed Robin, "_He wants us! Not the hostages! Not the Justice League! And definitely not Batman! Us!_"

"_That doesn't make sense! Why would he want us?_" questioned Artemis.

"_I…think I might now why…_" admitted Aqualad, "_I tried to tell you earlier…but…The Joker said something to me…about what happened to us back in October 16..._"

As he was about to explain, Miss Martian looked over to the glass window not broken by Superboy, and saw a white monster in her reflection, staring right back at her and in her posture.

She screamed and held her hands out at it, using her powers to shatter the window and ran to the corner, hiding herself in her own cape.

"M'gann!" called out Superboy, rushing over and resting his hands on her shoulder.

"Please! Don't look at me!" she let out in fear.

"M'gann, look at me," demanded Superboy sternly. She did so slowly, she panted and looked into his eyes with a bead of sweat from her brow.

"I…I thought I saw something…" she let out.

Robin looked at the two without saying a word, a dark frown was present as he was beginning to realize what exactly is going on. "Superboy, I need you to back away."Superboy looked at him, only budging an inch as Robin knelt in front of her. He gently grabbed her cheeks and looked into her eyes, which were dilated and pacing around slightly.

"What's wrong?" asked Superboy.

"Let me see your eyes," replied Robin, grabbing his cheek much to his displeasure and looking directly into his eyes, also dilated and twitching around.

"Robin!" called out Superboy as he raced to Aaron, checking his pupils much to his confusion. They were not dilated and perfectly normal.

"What? This doesn't…" let out Robin, he grunted as he ran to the examination room and picked up a piece of glass, and lifted his mask slightly. He looked to see his own pupils dilated like Superboy's and Miss Martian's."Robin! What's going on?" questioned Miss Martian in frustration.

"We've been infected!" yelled back Robin, "This whole place is filled with Fear Toxin!"

"What?" growled Superboy in shock.

"No…" let out Miss Martian in fear.

"…_Fear Toxin!_" called out Martian Manhunter telepathically, "_The whole asylum is filled with Fear Toxin! Can you hear me!_"

"_…We hear you, Uncle J'onn…and we know,_" she let out sadly, "_We've been infected…_"

"_Are you kidding me?_" Artemis nearly screamed out, "_Fear toxin? That's impossible!_"

"_No, it is…_" added Aqualad, "_Why else would we have complications speaking to each other? The fear toxin is messing with our minds, shutting each other out and in back and forth!_"

"How could this happen…" let out Miss Martian, Superboy walked over and held her arms, resting her head against his chest for comfort.

Suddenly, the PA system turned on, releasing a small jingle, and an all-too-familiar voice was heard. "Perhaps…I could explain how this happened…"

Robin glared his eyes and replied with a hateful and angry, "Scarecrow…"

* * *

**The Banana Slug: Sorry kid, in the event of a infecting agent, you will have to stay in the quarantined area indefinitely and hope we find a cure. :P**

**Also, if I get Robin's lingo wrong, I am truly sorry. I just can't get the lingo them new kids are speakin' with now-a-days!**


	5. Asylo

**The Banana Slug: Five naughty chapters written, ten good-little chapters left.**

* * *

**Young Justice: Halls of Arkham**

**By The Banana Slug**

**CHAPTER 5: Asylo**

* * *

"Scarecrow! What is going on!" demanded Robin angrily, "We're not playing games! Why do you want us?"

"Is this some stupid elaborate death trap?" interrogated Superboy angrily.

"Believe me…if I just wanted to kill you rats…" hissed the Scarecrow, "…There'd be none of you left…"

The fortune of knowing Scarecrow wanted them alive instead of deceased was the good news, and bad news. Even though they will live, they will wish they were dead by the end of the day.

"It is time I revealed why I have taken over the asylum," explained the Scarecrow over the PA system, "And how I did it. I was allowed phone calls from Belle Reve, I was allowed one contact…the Joker."

All of the Team stood their ground as they listened to the Scarecrow. Superboy, Miss Martian, and Robin standing in the examination room, Aqualad standing in the men's room away from the cafeteria lest he be spotted, and Artemis laying her back against a door in a hallway that led back to the garden.

"Speaking in code, I was able to have him put Fear Toxin into the air vents," explained Scarecrow proudly, "To be frank, I was unhappy with Strange's establishment, it lacked the charm my old home had…so! I decided on returning by…acting my worst. And it worked. All. Too. Well."

"And why are we only infected?" interrogated Miss Martian.

"Simple, I gave cures to all the inmates and workers, Joker _spiked_ the food…surprised he didn't kill the whole lot with his venom…" explained Scarecrow, "I only wanted you five infected…I already have everyone else's experiences in my notes…and I am very interested on how you handle the stressss…"

"How did you escape!" called out Superboy angrily.

"…Well…I had your help…Superboy…" hissed Scarecrow.

"…The glass!" realized Robin.

"Yesss, the glass!" hissed the Scarecrow, "I knew Superboy would attack me if I pushed the right buttons. His little whore was the perfect trigger. The pain is still there, ringing in my head, but it was worth it to kill the first guard. That was the easy part."

"But the inmates," continued Robin, "How did you free the inmates?" Superboy hung his head down, glaring angrily as he realized that Crane played him like a fool.

"Joker of course," explained Scarecrow, "With _help_ from his doctor, he was able to get into the security room and initiate the emergency fire protocol. Releasing all my comrades into the night…but they are only the butter to the bread…I am really doing this…because of you five…"

"Why?" interrogated Robin.

"…Oh, if only Kid Flash was here," sighed Scarecrow, "I would have loved to examine **his** ordeal with the simulation…but we all know that bum arm of his, eh?"

When he said this, they all were shocked and alert at his knowledge of the simulation. This knowledge only made the Scarecrow more dangerous and powerful to them.

"How did you find out!" demanded Robin, "**Talk Scarecrow**!"

"A…mole in the team," replied Scarecrow casually, "Has sent me some of the footage…enough to see how much trauma it gave you. Along with notes of your therapy session with that guttersnipe, unprofessional and arrogant bitch…I am sure our little session will be more…effective."

"So…all of this…was for some stupid way of…getting into our minds!" growled Robin angrily.

"…Yes," replied Scarecrow, barely containing laughter, "I am viewing all your movements and reactions to your environments…as evident to Miss Martian…you should be seeing more vivid hallucinations by now. Oh, and by the by…Welcome home." The PA quickly turned off and left the team in great disarray.

"_How did he find out?_" let out Miss Martian in fear, "_How much does he know? Why is this so important to him?_"

"_Miss Martian! Calm down!_" ordered Aqualad, "_We have to find Scarecrow and stop him! He may have an antidote for the Fear Toxin._"

"_Don't you have any, Robin?_" questioned Artemis stressfully.

"_No use…Scarecrow changes the compound and structure of the toxin constantly, so far, Batman and I found ten different strains,_" explained Robin, "_Due to the importance of the situation to Crane, I say this is number eleven._"

"_Dammit!_" growled Artemis in anger.

"_Scarecrow must keep a cure around, right?_" questioned Superboy.

"_Yes, when he gets himself infected…mostly my fault in that department,_" replied Robin hopefully, "_He usually keeps it with him at all times or in a safe place. Judging from the PA system, he's in Dr. Arkham's office._"

"_Then the mission has not changed,_" added Aqualad, "_Robin, find Artemis and Dr. Arkham. Superboy, you, Miss Martian, and I will find Scarecrow AND the cure._ _I will meet you at the…_"

"No…" let out Miss Martian, losing Aqualad's mental link again, "The Fear Toxin…it's…"

"We know," replied Superboy, "Follow me and we'll find Aqualad. Robin, can you find Artemis by yourself?"

"I'm more worried about you two," admitted Robin, "I know this place like the back of my hand. This is your first time…this place is like a maze, and it…does things to people…I don't want to admit, but I'm scared."

"We all are," calmed Miss Martian, "But we find Scarecrow, and put an end to his plan. We can't let him get the better of us."

"…Right," sighed Superboy, not wanting to admit he is also terrified of the situation. With that, the three split up with Robin running through one hallway and Superboy and his girlfriend running the other, going through the maze of Arkham Asylum…

* * *

**ARKHAM ASYLUM**

**October 26, 3:11 PM**

Aqualad exited the bathroom and sighed, crossing his arms as he did not know where to look. He felt unsure of himself, and was starting to lose confidence in himself.

From far away, he began hearing the sounds of a woman moaning passionately. For some reason, the voice sounded way too familiar to him in some distant way.

With this, he walked down the hallway to the source of the sound. What he saw was a therapy room, with the large glass window showing the entire inside of it.

What he saw was two figures inside, kissing and hugging each other in dark passion. The woman was sitting on the table with her legs around the man's hips, moaning as she made out with her lover.

Aqualad got closer and saw the figures more clearly, a sight that made his heart drop and scream from shock.

"…Tula…"

What he saw was his ex-girlfriend, Tula, being passionately kissed by her new lover and Kaldur's friend, Garth. He could not see his face as he was kissing her neck, but could tell it was him.

As he got closer, the two not noticing him, Tula looked up as Garth's face was revealed…to belong to the Joker's.

This fact frightened and disturbed Kaldur as he shook his head. The Joker glanced over at him as he gave a long lick to Tula's neck, all the way to her chin.

"Oh…Mistah J…" she moaned passionately, "Don't make me wait…"

He backed away in disgust, not realizing there was a staircase behind him. In his drugged state, he couldn't stop as he backed away too far. With a yell, he slipped and fell down the stairs, tumbling around as he fell down two stories. He grunted and yelled with every step, his body flopping around in pain.

After this embarrassing fall, he landed face first onto the pavement. He began to pant in pain, tears escaping from his eyes as he tried to get up. He looked in front of him to see a sight that made him incredibly confused, tilting his head.

What he saw was an old yet muscular man, sitting there in his dirty and urinated underwear on an old electrical chair in a cell covered in Greek symbols made of fecal matter. He had tattoos of Greek symbols on his arms, had long white yet matted hair that included a beard, blazing blue eyes, and had wires connecting to his body. He held a long staff with nails imbedded into it as he looked down at Kaldur, who looked as if he was bowing before him.

"…Rise!" commanded the man in a booming voice that showed his rotten teeth, "Rise before me! Rise before the God of Olympus! **Zeus**!"

"Zeus?" let out Aqualad in confusion, "You…you can't be Zeus…"

"Of course I am!" boomed the man angrily, "I am Zeus! **You** know it, Triton, Son of Poseidon! God of Olympus! Lord of All that is Righteous! Do you **dare** defy me?"

"…No…No," let out Aqualad as he got up before him, "It's just…what is…the great Zeus doing here?"

"**This** is Olympus, of course!" boomed the insane Maxie Zeus, "My grandson, Phobos, has taken the mountain for **me**! From the usurper, Salmoneus! With the help from the trickster Hermes! Aphrodite, Goddess of Love! Janus, God of Beginnings and Ends! And Ares, God of War!"

"I…I see, I think," grunted Aqualad, knowing this man is not Zeus, but best not to argue with this lunatic, "But…isn't Olympus…now Phobos'?"

"Nay, pilgrim!" rambled Maxie Zeus, "Child of Atlantis! Hear me! Phobos has generously given me my Olympus back! I only need to recharge! To **feel** the power of Olympus course through my veins!"

"…Power…of Olympus?" let out Aqualad in confusion.

"**YES!**" roared Maxie Zeus, and soon, the sound of static was heard from the ceiling. Maxie began to laugh with short breath, smiling widely and said with tremendous euphoria, "Aaah ha ha haaaa! The flames of Olympus come to **me**! Witness! Witness Triton! Witness my accension! As I take my place…as **GOD! OF! OLYMPUS!**"

Suddenly, the lights began to flicker as electricity pumped into the body of this man before Aqualad. Maxie screamed in pain and ecstasy, his voice thundering across the halls as he was electrocuted. Sparks flew from his chair as he shook wildly, his hands gripping the handles of the chair.

Aqualad watched in horror as this man electrocuted himself for such a delusional cause, causing him to back against a wall.

"Bear up! My child!" he screamed insanely, the electricity coursing through his body, "Bear! Up! I who oversees and directs all things is still! **Mighty! In! Heaven! AAAAAAGH!**"

In terror, Aqualad bolted away, stumbling around wildly from the madman that willingly electrocuted himself, his screams heard even as he fled…the screams of the god of Olympus.

* * *

Artemis heard the scream from halfway across the asylum, causing her to shiver in worry. She shook and slapped the side of her head, saying to herself, "Keep it together, girl…"

Artemis continued to walk down the hallway, her bow ready to shoot at any assailant that is dumb enough to pop out. Even as to how prepared she is, she didn't notice a figure watching her, hounding her, stalking her. This figure hid behind every corner, flickering his knife against his thigh as he watched her every move.

As she walked down the hall, she looked over into an open room and saw something that made her stop full-front. What she saw was Cheshire, sitting on the table casually. However, she had a black waving tail and her eyes were blazing red for some strange reason.

"What are you doing here?" demanded Artemis.

"I am here because you're crazy," explained Cheshire calmly, the mouth of her mask moving with her words, "I am here because you have nowhere to go, Alice."

"Don't you dare talk down to me, Jade!" yelled Artemis angrily, "I don't need a good for nothing sister treating me like crap!"

"Oh, Alice," sighed Cheshire playfully, "You try and be soooo strong and tough, but it's only because in truth…nobody likes you."

She looked away, closing her eyes in anger at that insult. But even then, Cheshire continued to taunt her, "And why would they? You showed them NO reason to trust you! You have been a royal bitch to everyone. I'm surprised they haven't found out the truth about you yet. The brooding, the snootiness, the overall bitching you give every fucking minute…but! Why should you care what I say, I'm just a figment of your cheesed-out imagination."

Artemis glared over at Cheshire, who tilted her head and giggled at her sister. "Wow! Really? You figured that out only **now**? Pathetic, my whiny little sis, pa-thet-ic."

"Shut up!" snapped Artemis, "Even if you are a hallucination, you were always a terrible sister! Leaving me alone with a man who I hate with every fiber of my bone! And why? Because you thought I'd slow you down! And you know what? Why don't you** go to hell**!"

When she turned to Cheshire, she was gone. Artemis growled and kicked the wall. "When I find Arkham…" growled Artemis, "I'm going to kick your ass…"

She faced a nearby camera, looking straight at her. "You hear me! You sadistic freak?" she hissed, talking to the Scarecrow, "You're going to lick my boot when I'm done with you."

She looked back into the room and saw a plate of strawberry tarts, with a note saying, "Eat Me", on top of the pile of tarts. Artemis walked over and grabbed one of the tarts and sighed with annoyance.

"Damn it, Jade," she sighed, "Why are you always so selfish?" And with that, she took a large bite of the tart, chewing and eating the treat. She groaned in frustration as she walked to the door.

As soon as she left the room, she began to feel wobbly, her head getting light and her body getting weak. She fought to stop her eyes from falling down. But despite her efforts, she fell down on her back and lost her grip on reality. Before she left the conscious world, she heard the sound of soft giggling.

* * *

"This…is…bogus!" groaned Robin, as he is surrounded by a horde of slobbering lunatics, brandishing knives and looking hungrily and lustfully at the Boy Wonder.

"We're gonna cut you! Son of God!" hissed an inmate.

"I need to keep you safe!" raved another, "I need to eat you! To preserve your soul!"

"Die! Satan! Die!" screamed another, running at Robin with a knife in his hand waving wildly around. Robin quickly did a spin kick to his face and sent him to the floor.

"Come on!" egged Robin. More and more inmates began running right at him, all getting a boot to the head or a stick to the face. His fists and feet flying at the monsters without stop, battling like a gladiator desperately surviving the fight with starved lions.

One inmate wrapped his arm around his neck and squeezed as another was ready to shove his knife into Dick's throat. However, Robin pushed against the inmate holding him and kicked the inmate coming at him, and quickly flipping around and releasing himself from the inmate and kicking the back of his head.

He jumped from wall to wall and ran from the inmates. "Cheers!" he laughed out. He ran through a door that said, **GARDEN WATCH BALCONY**, as the inmates began running after him. He was about to close the door, but saw the inmates backing away, as if waiting for him to leave.

Robin slammed the door and turned around, suddenly seeing his father, John Grayson, sitting on a chair as he flipped a coin, slouching as he glared at Dick. John looked rotted, grey, and had his right cheek completely rotted away, showing his gums and teeth.

"Dad?" let out Robin, his voice shaking like an earthquake.

"Like I'd be the father of some runt like you," growled John, flipping his coin. Dick noticed that the coin was double-sided, with one side scratched up. He quickly closed his eyes and slapped his own face.

"Sorry, Harvey," replied Robin, opening his eyes again. Then, he saw Two-Face, sitting on a chair, his prison uniform missing his shirt and replaced with a white wife beater. Two-Face looked normal, black hair, tired eyes, and a muscular physique, but there was a great distinguishment from everyone else. Half of his face was burnt off symmetrically, leaving a red mass of flesh exposing his bloodshot eyeball and his teeth rotten only on that side of his face, no hair on any part of the mass of flesh. Another feature were his tattoos, the right side had little tattoos other than two celtic circles around his arms and the letters, "GOOD" tattooed on his fingers. The left side had a multitude of black tribal markings that reached to his neck and covering his entire left arm, and the letters, "EVIL" tattooed on the fingers.

In the room was many a flipped chair, with five dead guards pressed against the wall, bullets between each of their heads. At the right side of the room was a door that leads to the balcony to the garden.

"…Fears getting' to ya," growled Two-Face, "Damn, you actually thought I was your pa. I thought you trained for crap like this!"

"I am…" replied Robin, unsure of himself, "I am trained for this. I was trained by…Why am I explaining myself to you!"

"Because you can't keep your mouth shut," growled Two-Face, "You need to talk. You ain't Batman. Stoic. Strong. Sure of himself."

Robin glared at Two-Face, clenching his fists, "Who said I wanted to be Batman?"

"I never said you wanted to be Batman, punk," growled Two-Face, giving a smirk from his good side, "I said you **ain't** Batman. Now that…that's pathetic."

"Shut up!" yelled Robin, "I don't need a lecture from some two-faced wackjob!"

"Wackjob? Is fate wack, boy? Is chance wack? Is destiny wack?" lectured Two-Face, rolling the coin against his fingers.

"No, listening to a coin instead of your own conscience is wack!" argued Robin, pointing at Two-Face, "You used to mean something to this city, now you are just a pawn for that stupid coin!""…I got some advice for you, little buddy," hissed Two-Face in great frustration, holding his coin with his fingers, "Before you point that finger you should know that I **am** the coin. And if **I** am the coin, then **you're** the coin, and **this** is the coin as well…so you can point that **fuckin**' finger up your ass." Robin laid his hand down, dumbfounded by Two-Face's words, not sure what to make of them.

"We are all coins, boy," continued Two-Face, rubbing the coin with his finger and thumb, "Coins that constantly flip heads and tails. Constantly tugged by the strings of fate. Mine is just materialized into a physical being. I was like you, impulsive, cocky, and dumb. But when that day when my world was split in half…my left eye saw the negatives…and my right eye saw the truth. And since that day, I have decided to follow what fate left on my lap…and give everyone that chance, including you."

Two-Face then pulled up his coin, showing the clean side to Robin, stating, "Heads…I'll let you go out the door without trouble…Tails…" he then showed Robin the scarred side of his coin, growling out, "I shoot your head off like the fucking idiot you are and always will be…"

As he flipped the coin, with Robin stating with a laugh, "No thanks. Batman may play your game…but I won't!" As the coin landed on his palm, Robin leapt past Two-Face and opened the door. He quickly went in and slammed it behind him as Two-Face sat there, unmoved and uninterested in the Boy Wonder.

Two-Face looked at the coin…it came up heads.

"Impulsive brat," growled Two-Face, "Nothing like the Bat at all…"

* * *

**The Banana Slug: What? Was Batman suppose to just stand there waitin' for you to blast his head off?**

**Or maybe Batman trusts Harvey enough to know that he could take down Two-Face if it landed on tails?**

**Whatever! I made a Tool reference! :D**


	6. The Hat Is Wearing Me!

**The Banana Slug: I have told you before, I am not going to give you any money.**

**You'll just have to wait till later when the whole world goes broke.**

**Also, since I am mostly getting everything from the graphic novel, expect an ass-groping scene from the Joker. :D**

* * *

**Young Justice: Halls of Arkham**

**By the Banana Slug**

**Chapter 6: The Hat is Wearing Me!**

* * *

"…"

Superboy and Miss Martian walked down the halls, passing by the dead bodies and any inmates that seemed to have no ill-will to them, mostly mumbling schizophrenics or shrinking violets.

As they walked through the blood-stained walls, Superboy looked at Miss Martian, she seemed slightly depressed, causing Superboy to sigh in mutual depression.

"M'gann…I don't blame you for the simulation…if you are angry about that," said Superboy, "You had no control of your powers, and we got out without harm."

"But…if I don't have control of myself…how can I be a part of the team and be any use to any of you?" asked Miss Martian sadly, "I might have to leave you and go back home to Mars…"

"Don't talk like that," ordered Superboy sternly, "Without you, we'd never be able to finish a single mission. Despite what you think, you are the most important person on this mission…and to me."

When he said that, she looked up at him and gave a soft smile. "It was…kinda nice how you defended my honor when Scarecrow said those things 'bout me."

"Yeah…but he played me like a fool," growled Superboy, "He knew I'd freak out, he planned on it…it's like I'm everyone's puppet lately." Before she could respond, she heard a faint voice in the distance, causing her to stop right then and there. Superboy didn't even notice her lack of motion, for some strange unknown reason, who kept on walking as Miss Martian looked over at another hallway, that ended at a large wooden door. Above the door said, "Group Therapy Room."

She began walking closer to it curiously, the voices speaking to her calmly and invitingly. As she strode, the sounds of girls giggling and moaning was heard in the recesses of her mind, but Miss Martian didn't seem to be bothered by them, even when time seemed to slow down…slower and slower.

M'gann reached for the knob, M'gann grabbed the knob, M'gann twisted the knob. With a small push, the door opened and she walked in without control of herself.

What she viewed in the room made her gasp in fright and nausea, covering her mouth. It had to be about ten people on the floor, dead and without eyes. Blood stained the floor with a huge puddle, eyeballs were hung up on the broken fan, twirling around as they would stare back at her tear-filled eyes. However, some of those bodies would look at her with their eyeless holes, gazing into her fearful person.

"Oh…how could…how could this happen?" was all she could let out of such a slaughter.

One of the bodies began raising up before her over six feet away, groaning as it pressed its hands on the bodies. The corpse soon revealed himself to be none other than the man known as Amadeus Arkham, glaring madly at her with his fists clenched on the squishy dead body of a patient.

"No! This isn't real!" she let out in fear. Suddenly, Amadeus began running at her, swinging his arms around as he roared at her with a bull's fury. She spun around to get to the door, but she was roughly slammed into the door with amazing strength. She yelped in pain and terror as she was thrown down onto the linoleum floor by the mad Amadeus, blood staining her cape as she looked at him with tears running down her eyes, the ghost looked back at her with eyes of insane rage.

"You whore! Prostitute!" roared Amadeus with saliva spitting out his angry lips, "Gutterskank! Slut! You let this happen! My beautiful asylum! Overrun by the beasts of Hell!"

"No! Please! I didn't do anything!" pleaded Miss Martian, tears running down her face like a waterfall. She was replied with a sharp and cruel kick to the stomach, causing her to cry out in pain and cradle it. She coughed madly as Amadeus reached down and angrily grabbed at her red locks. She sobbed and screamed as he dragged her limp across the bloody room, reaching out and clawing his hands to no avail.

Then, Amadeus slammed her face at a window, forcing her to look outside, seeing the SWAT team and helicopters looking around the island for entrance and exits. "See? See what you did! People are invading my island! Because of you! You did this to me! You did this to my beautiful asylum! To my mother's house! Are you proud of yourself, harlot? Because this is your doing! Your fault! All of it!"

"Nooooooo!" she screamed as she turned around to swipe at him, only to see he was gone. For a while, she stood there, quivering as she knew the pain was real…she knew he was there…even though he is not now. She pressed her back against the wall and began to cry, sliding down onto the gory floor.

"Maybe it is…" she wept in sadness, "…I did this…again…it's all my fault…"

* * *

"…_Is anyone there_?"

Before long, as he was halfway away from Miss Martian, he finally noticed that she was gone from his company. In great worry, he frantically looked around, not seeing her anywhere in the area.

"M'gann! M'gann!" he shouted frantically, "Where are you?"

Suddenly, one of the doors swung open to reveal the Joker, laughing softly as he smiled at him and his hand pressed at the door. "Hi, darling! Comin' my way?" he asked pleasantly with a wave and a raised lef, "And me without a bouquet to give."

"Where's M'gann!" he shouted angrily.

"Oh, who knows!" sighed the Joker, walking towards him with a swagger, twirling around a ripped black skirt in his left hand, "If I was in a stressful situation in a stressful place full of stressful people, I think I would be gettin' rid of said stress by rubbin' one out! **A Date with Rosie Palms **as the internet kids call it."

"You're acting different than we last met!" growled Superboy, trying to ignore his lewd statement. Joker chuckled and threw the skirt at his face, Superboy growling and throwing it to the floor in disgust.

"Decided to get a new outlook for the occasion, like it?" he asked as he circled Superboy, then sighing and said with distaste, "Not many people liked my old one." He continued with a jovial tone with, "And now, about the ol' jerkin' off statement, it looks like you, my dear, are under a great amount of said stress, perhaps we can both get rid of it together! How 'bout it?"

"Shut up!" growled Superboy angrily, clenching his fists furiously.

"Ooooh! Mr. Brooding and Wangsty, party of one!" teased the Joker as he stopped behind Superboy, fawning in joy. He then reached out and grabbed Superboy's ass, squeezing the left cheek as Conner grunted and froze, disgusted and confused.

"Lighten up, tight-ass!" hissed the Joker as he gave it a soft and tender rub.

Superboy swung at Joker as he stepped back quickly with a chuckle. "You don't get to touch me! Not like that!" roared Superboy, eye twitching in disgust.

"Yah ha haah!" laughed the Joker, "Seems like someone is a little touchy? Confused lover? See me sometime and I'll show you and that green piece of ass some real fun with me…and my pair of hyenas. Naughty boys."

"Sick freak!" growled Superboy, stepping away from the Joker with his fists raised.

Joker let out an amused laugh, then cooing out softly, "I'm flattered, baby. I really am…" He then walked to the door and leaned against it, calling out, "Boy, Superman must really hate you to allow you go into a place full of freaks like this place!"

"Go to hell!" growled Superboy. Joker scoffed and raised his hands up at him mockingly and pretended to be intimidated. "Watch out, we got ourselves a badass over here!"

"So you think telling me to **go to hell **will make me think you any different?" questioned the Joker, then revealing in a hissing tone as he pointed right at Superboy, "Get one thing straight, hunk, you're in the real world now! Real people have taken over the asylum! And real people are going to kill you!"

A kick to the door behind him was all it took for them to fling open, the Joker walking through the doors and resting his hands against railings. Superboy couldn't help but stumble to the Joker, looking to see he was on the third floor of the third holding area. A pool of inmates was there, reaching out hungrily as they screamed like wild animals, teeth rotten in the mouths that yammer about dark speaking and paranoid delusions.

The Joker laughed as he raised his hands up triumphantly, "Let the feast of fools begin!"

Superboy, getting out of his funk and shaking his head violently, turned to the Joker and grabbed his neck, pushing him against the wall with great force. "Stop! Playing! Games!" roared Superboy, "Where is the Scarecrow!"

"In the room behind us," revealed the Joker with a dumb smile. Superboy looked back in the room and saw Scarecrow standing there, looking at Conner with his hands behind his back.

"I'm glad I came here," said the Scarecrow as Superboy dropped Joker and stormed at the mad doctor, "The fear toxin isn't working so well as expected…mostly due to your infernal Kryptonian DNA giving a more powerful immune system. More dosage is needed for you."

Superboy then grabbed Scarecrow's coat and glared at the tall super villain. "You used me! No one uses me!" growled Superboy, "And I'm going to show you why it's a very bad…"

Scarecrow then swiped his hands at Superboy, he held two syringes filled with a pale green substance as he stung Superboy. The needles injected into his neck, somehow breaking through the skin as he pumped the liquidized fear toxin into the Kryptonian's bloodstream.

Superboy roared as he pushed Scarecrow away, grabbing his neck in pain. He grunted as he felt like the world was shaking, every sound feeling like nails on a chalkboard as his body began to sweat like a hot pig.

"Not enough," sighed Scarecrow angrily, "Not enough. You need more." He then slapped Superboy across the face, which sent him on the ground, the blow causing Superboy great pain for a strange reason.

"Get…away…" growled Superboy as Scarecrow walked over to him. Scarecrow stood over him as Conner moved around on the ground. The dreaded psychologist fell on his knees, holding out one more syringe of fear toxin in his left hand.

"Not quite there," hissed the Scarecrow, "You need…one more dosage…"And with that, Scarecrow grabbed Superboy's head and forced his mouth open. He quickly reached in and grabbed the boy's tongue, pinching the tip as he lifted it up from his mouth.

Superboy grunted as Scarecrow moved the syringe at his tongue, then screaming in terror and intense pain as the needle entered the bottom of his tongue. He felt the liquid enter the vein of his red tissue, the pain near unbearable.

His body began to tremble and twitch violently, the Kryptonian suffering some sort of seizure as Scarecrow got up and walked to the Joker.

"Was tongue injection necessary?" asked Joker playfully.

"No…but it did intrigue me," hissed the Scarecrow. Both looking back and seeing Superboy getting up and falling against the wall. In his world, the whole universe was acting like it was rotating around slowly, like a funhouse. This caused him to stumble around and fall down, unable to control his actions in the environment he is in.

"What a maroon!" laughed the Joker, the Scarecrow only chuckled softly as he walked past both of them.

"Let's see where he takes himself, Joker," consoled the Scarecrow. The Joker sighed and nodded as the Scarecrow left the room, leaving the Clown with the Boy.

"Parting is such sweet sorrow," hissed the Joker as Superboy was on the floor, moaning and looking around in fear. Joker walked over Conner and followed the Scarecrow out, leaving Superboy in his own personal hell. The walls, beginning creating red infected gashes before his bloodshot eyes, bleeding profusely. Underneath the gashes were a flesh-like substance, red and mushy.

He stumbled up and tried to follow the two's direction, with every step met with the sound of splashing as he imagined one foot of blood covering the entire asylum floor, the walls getting more and more organic…

* * *

"_Hello? …Hello?"_

Artemis woke up at a long table, with a long row of inmates and doctors wearing bunny masks as they looked at her with "ooos" and "aahs". It seems she was back in the Arkham garden, sitting on a chair at the end of one side of the rectangular table. Artemis wanted to move her body, but could not, she was not restrained…it was just that she chose not too physically. Not even an arm, not even a leg, not even a finger, not even her lips. All she could control were her eyes, her thoughts, and what was left of her sanity.

"Oooh! I was wondering when you'd wake up, Alice!" giggled a voice from the other end of the table, she looked to see it was Jervis Tetch, the Mad Hatter, "It is very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, VERY rude to sleep during your Unbirthday!"

"Very rude indeed," moaned one of the mind-controlled minions.

He was drinking a cup of tea with a large and annoying slurp, then breathing out with delight as he threw it behind his head and at a nearby tree. He looked over at Artemis with a great big smile, who wanted to struggle, but couldn't, her mind wouldn't.

"Oh, do forgive me, loverly Alice," cooed a sorry Mad Hatter, clasping his hands together and frowning, "I had to take you away from that mad dog before he struck! And now that you are here, we can start our tea party. Now please, oh please, drink some of your delicious tea!"

Artemis then grabbed a cup of tea and pressed it against her lips, the brown liquid running down her throat. It was a little too hot, her tongue and lips getting a bit scalded from the heat.

"Yes, you see, my lovely little Alice!" giggled the Mad Hatter, "I have complete control of your body. I can read your thoughts. And I can read your memories. Oh my dear, I am blushing just glancing at them! Hmhmhmhm!"

Artemis could not use her mouth, but wanted to scream. Her entire past and thoughts were known to this sick creature drinking tea before her. He picked his tea cup again, with Artemis mimicking him, drinking the tea with him.

Mad Hatter looked at Artemis with a grin, he then began waving his cup around. Artemis was forced to do the same. Jervis laughed loudly and put the glass back down, Artemis forced to do the same against her will.

"Oh! How delicious!" giggled the Mad Hatter with joy, "Isn't this fun Alice? Oh, how I've been waiting for you! It is quite good to see you again! Jolly good! Good show! I…OH!"

Suddenly, he looked up and ducked as Robin landed roughly on the table, slamming his bo stick against the heads of any of the mind-controlled drones who attempted to take the Boy Wonder off the table. Mad Hatter hastefully got up and began ranting loudly at his men angrily with his face red.

"Get him!" yelled the Mad Hatter in a state, "Get the boy! Stop him! Stop him! Kill him! Now! He's ruining our Unbirthday Party! Filthy Degenerate! "

They began climbing up the table and attacking Robin, only to be kicked off instantly. Mad Hatter whimpered and rushed away from the battle, his men getting knocked out left by left. Robin looked over to Artemis, who was screaming to him subconsciously as she was trapped motionless and frozen.

He reached to her neck and grabbed an object away from her view. Followed by a loud rip, Artemis quickly leapt out her chair and began panting heavily, shaking her head wildly.

"Robin! How did…" she let out, only to see a long red "ribbon", torn at the ends, in Robin's hands.

"Hatter, he's a whiz with mind control," admitted Robin, who was grabbed from behind by a mask-wearing inmate, Robin struggling against the strong inmate. Artemis looked around, trying to find her bow she so desperately needed. She glanced to find it resting defenseless at the side of a nearby tree, Robin quickly slammed the mind-controlled inmate against a large nearby tree and was quickly surrounded by three more of the mind-controlled inmates.

Artemis raced over and rolled to the tree, grabbing her bow and soon began shooting three of her arrows at all three of their heads. They fell down on the green dewy grass, knocked out as Robin ran over to her and swung his staff at two of the nutjobs attempting to sneak up at her. He helped Artemis up with a tug at her hand and they both fought for their lives, Robin smashing his staff at the faces of the inmates while arrows flew from all over the place.

Before long, the drones were on the grassy ground, knocked unconscious and groaning in their stupor. Mad Hatter was under the table, shivering in fright as the two teammates looked at him with disdain, especially Artemis.

Mad Hatter got up in a large fright and asked with pure innocence and fright, "Wuh-wuh…what did I…do wrong? I was…I thought we were having fun…"

"Fun? Probing someone else's mind is fun to you!" angrily interrogated Artemis as she stomped to him. Mad Hatter blubbered and yelped as he scrambled away and hid behind a tree, Artemis stopping in front of the tree, confused and annoyed by his actions.

"I…I don't see the problem!" whimpered Mad Hatter in fear, "It was all for fun, really! I didn't mean to cause any harm, Alice! Honest! I'm a poor man! I know not what I mean! I am a very poor man!"

"And a poor speaker," grumbled Artemis. Robin walked over to the tree, getting more close to it as Hatter did his best to hide himself from their gaze.

"We are going to leave, Hatter, but if you follow us, or attempt to control our minds again, we will hurt you," warned Robin sternly, "Capiche?"

"Okay! Okay!" whined out Hatter as he sniffled a bit, looking at both of them with tears in his eyes, his overbite biting his lower lip to keep it from quivering, "You two are…so mean! Brutes! Begone! Post haste!"

He continued to whimper as the two left him at the tree, getting back to the cobblestone road where Artemis stopped Robin and told him something that was unnerving her.

"Robin…I…" she let out with something holding her back, then coughing and bluntly saying, "Mad Hatter…told me he…protected me from, what he said a, _mad dog_. I…I think someone might be stalking me here…I think it might be Scarecrow."

"He likes to take on a hands on approach with this sort of thing, it might be," answered Robin calmly, "Crane wants to see what is making you afraid…the gas shows us our own personal demons before our eyes. It's not just spiders, bugs, or failing math tests in your undies, but more deeper ones, like trauma, regret, loss, and paranoid beliefs."

"Is there any way of combating it…naturally?" asked Artemis with a hint of hope.

"Yes, sometimes, facing your demons will make the delusions seem less extreme," replied Robin with a shred of despair, then muttering under his breath as he admitted, "At least…what Batman told me…"

Artemis looked at Robin as he walked down the path with his head down low, choosing to follow him as she was his lookout in this sudden mood switch.

From deep in the trees of the garden, still watched the individual, staring at every single moving part of Artemis' form. Her arms, her hair, her legs, her rear…and it only teased him, it only egged him.

It made him want to cut her all the more…

* * *

"_Hello? …Hello? …Is anyone there_?"

Deep in the bowels of Arkham, the lone doctor and owner of this hell was in the corner of one of the shower rooms, where a multitude of naked and raped bodies were scattered, along with a pool of blood and limbs of all sorts.

Jeremiah was in the corner, curled up like a scared child, rocking himself as he pressed the bloody radio to his face, muttering to it.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" he muttered into it, "I need…help…I'm trapped in this hell, I need someone to find me…I need help…please help me. Is anyone there? Hello?"

He continued to mutter into the radio, getting no one, no one answering his calls. No one was in the line with him, no one was there to help him.

"Please…I need your help. Is anyone there?" he continued to ramble with his voice shattering little by little, "…Batman? Gordon? Quinzel? Cash? Boles? Cavendish? …Crane? Sionis? Is anyone there? Hello? Hello? Hello? Can you help me?"

Utter silence was his only companion, and he knew it, sinking deep into hell as he heard the sounds of women screaming and lunatics laughing, pressing his back against the dirty linoleum walls…sinking further away from sanity…

"…Arkham? …Arkham? …Please…tell me…it's you…please…please…."

His head raised up, hearing the other voice from the other side, from the radio, pleading for him. Pleading for his company.

Arkham raised the radio to his lips, turning it on and addressing the person who is calling out for him…to save each other…

"…Harleen?"

* * *

**The Banana Slug: Sorry for the delay, I am juggling three different fanfics, y'know. I have my Batman crackfic one-shots, I have my WarCraft smut, and I have this darkfic!**

**So, with all do respect, I am sorry for making anyone who cares wait, but chill. :]**


	7. Stop the Boat!

**The Banana Slug: My favorite song from Linkin Park? It's a little ditty called, "Session". Why? Because it is so depressing and psychological for some strange reason.**

**And that is what I listen to when I write this story. Consider "Session" by Linkin Park as the main theme of Halls of Arkham. :]**

* * *

**Young Justice: Halls of Arkham**

**By The Banana Slug**

**Chapter 7: Stop The Boat!**

* * *

Miss Martian swung the doors open violently, panting as sweat dripped down her brow, tears running down her soft freckled cheeks. She walked tiredly out the gore-filled room as her costume was stained with their blood, panting heavily with every weak step.

Suddenly, in her mind, flashes of red light would appear with every sound of her heartbeat, everything appearing crimson red for only a split second.

"…There's no earthly way of _knowing_…which direction we are…_going_…"

She heard this dark voice sing to her, a voice all to familiar to her. Scarecrow. Scarecrow sung to her. She had no idea where it was coming from, it was as if he whispered into both her green ears.

"There's no knowing where we're _rowing_…"

The world soon shivered, with a high-pitched giggle in her mind as it soon subsided. Bloody corpses were on the floor, looking at her as she moved her legs. They smiled at her.

"Or which way the river's _flowing_…"

Thunder was heard, a blood-curdled scream followed. A flash of light showed itself from the end of the hallway, the shadow of the Scarecrow stood over her as it posed as if on a cross. M'gann shook her head and squeezed it, clenching her eyes shut as hard as she could…but the voices could still be heard…singing and laughing.

"Is it raining? Is it snowing? Is a…hurricane a-blowing?"

The walls crumbled as blood spurted out the cracks, revealing a black sky and skyscrapers in ruins in the distance. When the walls fell, it revealed she was in a cemetery as crows cawed and flocked around her, resting on the rusty railings and cracked stone gravestones. In front of her was a large mausoleum in the distance, with many wooden crosses popping out the ground around her as she got closer and closer to it.

"Not a speck of light is showing…so the danger must be growing…"

The crows cawed at her as she sweated and cried, looking around at the destroyed city, blood dripping from the windows as cars were on fire. Bodies on the asphalt, and even a few hung from the lamp poles with rope. She wanted to look away, she wanted to stop walking, she wanted to run…but she won't.

"Are the fire's of **HELL** a-growing? Is the grisly **REAPER** mowing?"

As she walked closer to the mausoleum, it revealed writing in blood, saying, "You did it! You!". The mausoleum began to crack and tremble, long clawed fingers reaching from inside and pushing through, revealing Scarecrow as he pushed up from the building like a worm. His teeth black and in shards, his eyes on fire, and crows circling him and cawing.

"Yes! The danger must be growing! For the rowers keep on rowing!"

Miss Martian fell on her knees, holding and rocking herself as the crows began speaking English, cawing out, "Faster! Faster!" over and over and over and over and over again. Scarecrow continuing to sing and scream in her moment of torment. M'Gann breathing heavily and rapidly as the crows went "Faster! Faster", faster and faster. The sounds ringing through her ears as she was to the breaking point.

"And they're certainly not showing!"

She whined and sobbed, rocking herself harder and hyperventilating as the sounds became too much for her. The breaking point was far from gone now…

"Any signs! That they are! SLOWING!"

"SHUT! UP!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. After that, the whole world was silent, she opened her eyes to see the Scarecrow, standing in front of her with his long crooked scythe in hand. A broken window to the left gave a cold wind as the sound of helicopters were heard outside.

She looked at him, not saying a word. Finally, she let out a mind-broken sob, hanging her head down as the Scarecrow looked down at her, unmoved as he tilted his head.

"Why…are you…doing this?" she sobbed out.

"Interesting," he hissed out, "I was not sure the fear toxin would work on you, being a Martian and all…but it seems to be working just fine. Not fine, no, amazingly, that's the word…"

"Why…are you doing this?" she repeated, shaking her head.

"…Miss Martian…there is no god," he simply said to her, then continuing with a hiss, "Because we were afraid…we needed something…we wanted something on the other side, we wanted salvation, we wanted a reason for living…and then we created God. A father figure that was to give us a path in life, a salvation from the darkness. But even then, we couldn't get it right…because there was those who were not afraid of him. And so, they made him…**darker**. They gave him the power of fear! To keep the heathens in line, with terror and threats."

He chuckled and began walking around her, continuing with, "It can be said with all other religions as well, a way of keeping people from and to fear. Be good, or suffer, for goodness sake. Hmhmhm. Isn't it wonderful? How could I ever compete with that?"

Without a single warning, he raised his scythe and butted the end of it against the back of Miss Martian's head sharply. She yelped out as she crumbled on to the floor, crying on the bloody floor. Scarecrow sighed and stood over her."…I wonder what I will have to do…" he sighed with melancholy, "To make you look at me…the way you did to your uncle…when he jabbed his hand into your fucking stomach."

Then, she roared in anger as she got up and lunged at the Scarecrow, her eyes wide with anger and sorrow as she reached up at him, her fingers bent like claws. He moved out of the way and slammed his arm against her back, sending her back to the floor with a thud. A sharp kick was sent to her stomach, causing her to groan and shiver with pain, holding it as she cried and spit dripped out her red lips.

"As I was saying," he said calmly, "Religion isn't the only cause of fear, it is also government…family, education, and even your own person. Not just phobias and confrontations, but traumas and consequences. Fear is the only thing that keeps people like you or Jeremiah from killing people with a smile on your face, raping and murdering with delight, because you are afraid of the dreaded consequences. Fear is what keeps most of us from quitting school or work, even though they hate it, because they are afraid of debt and vagrancy. Fear is what keeps the whole world spinning, keeping us on line. Some are above the fear, like me and the Joker…and while he lives free from it, I control it. I will it. I remind people of that fear. And I learn from it. So that I may know fear in a more personal level. And thus, from this massive amount of proof, Fear is God."

Scarecrow looked down to see Miss Martian not listening, just looking at the ground with hopelessness as saliva dripped from the side of her lips.

He growled and shook his head. "Kids these days just don't listen…" he then sighed in frustration, walking away as he called out to her, "Remember, I'll be watching, you naughty little girl."

M'gann did not reply, just laying there as she looked at the smiling corpses, bloodied up as their dead eyes were looking at her, smiling with no end.

She turned away and closed her eyes, crying softly to herself in her moment of darkness…

* * *

**ARKHAM ASYLUM**

**October 26, 5:01 PM**

Aqualad stood in the middle of the hallway, staring at the wall of the end of the hall…with a deathly mood of depression. The wall was nothing special, just had a monitor and a dead corpse stuck to it with a nail, blood dripping down and creating a shimmering puddle.

He stood with his water-bearers in hand, and a cadre of unconscious bodies on the floor. He didn't even seem to notice them anymore, as if he is ten seconds of giving up.

"Why bother…I have already failed…" he said to himself, "The mission…failure…we failed…failed…failed…"

"Yes, you did," hissed a voice, revealing the Scarecrow on the television screen, looking directly at Aqualad. Behind Scarecrow was an office, Arkham's office, Scarecrow's office.

"Scarecrow," growled Aqualad as he stomped over to the monitor, glaring with hate, "You did this! How is the mole connected to you? How did you get the video tapes? Answer me!"

Scarecrow was silent as he looked at Aqualad, then saying with a humorous tone, "I'm a trifle deaf in one ear, you are going to have to speak clearer next time. Anyhow, you are not in a position to ask me questions, you are in my little hell and are forced to play along, understand?"

"Go to hell," hissed Aqualad as he clenched his fists and grinded his teeth.

"In case you haven't listened, my boy, we are in Hell," replied Scarecrow calmly, "Or, does Atlantean religion state that eternal piece is blood, carnage, insanity, and people getting horribly raped? If so…I am thoroughly interested."

"…How. Did you. Get. The tapes?" demanded Aqualad, putting emphasis on his words to get through to the maniac. A soft boom was heard in the distance, followed by another

"The mole, of course," chuckled Scarecrow with amusement.

"Who is the mole?" interrogated Aqualad as the sounds of heavy stomping and low growling was heard in the distance.

"Hush now, boy," hissed the Scarecrow, "For I think a crocodile is here! Hope you survive." The screen quickly shut off as the stomps and growls grew louder and closer. Aqualad spun around to see Killer Croc, cradling his head as he growled in frustration.

"Damn bitch! Messin' with my head…" he growled, "I'll kill her! I'll eat her juicy tender flesh! Shove her own lungs down her stupid throat! …Heheh, stuffing…yeah, that's what I'll do…rip her stomach open and shove other body parts in that bitch, like Thanksgiving! I can't wait…"

Killer Croc looked over as the pain in his head died down, glaring at the intimidated Kaldur'ahm, holding his water-bearers in defense.

The deranged beast stomped towards him with drool dripping down his blood-covered jaw, a hunger in his red eyes as he licked his face with his long pink reptile tongue.

"Seafood! I always wanted to try Atlantean!" Croc growled as he salivated madly, "I bet they taste just like crab! Seafood and Thanksgiving! Yesss! I! Can't! Wait!" Killer Croc released a tremendous and primal roar as he rushed at Aqualad, his claws reaching out at him as his maw was wide enough to swallow all of Kaldur.

Aqualad couldn't move, as to the real world Killer Croc was eighteen feet tall, but to Kaldur and his molested mind the croc was sixty feet tall, or was he himself one inch tall. He couldn't tell anymore.

Aqualad yelled out as he jumped back, landing on his back against the wall. He saw Croc back to his humongous eighteen feet again, who glared at him with his fists creating a large amount of cracks on the floor.

He got up as Aqualad looked at him with terror, the beast glaring deeply at him with saliva dripping more and more. A roar of the monster came out of the beasts lungs as spit and pieces of devoured human flesh splattered on Aqualad's person, causing him to experience a tremor of disgust.

Killer Croc growled and gave a intimidating and low laugh. "Considerate…a lot of people show the kindness of…fighting back. Makes me more hungry. Eating you is going to be…so good…" He slowly got up as he looked hungrily at Kaldur, his long pink tongue flopping out as he drooled like an animal.

Aqualad growled as he slammed his water-bearers on the floor, forming on the cracks around Croc's feet, and creating more of them. Killer Croc looked around angrily as the floor began to give in under the beast's massive weight. The monster roared as he attempted to lunge at Aqualad, only to be dragged down as the floor gave out. He dug his claws at the floor in an attempt to get Aqualad as he fell into the hole, roaring as he descended into the water with a splash.

Aqualad laid against the wall as he looked at the hole, hearing Croc roar out, "I will find you! Eat you! Kill you! You and that green bitch! Seafood and Thanksgiving!" Kaldur continued to hear the beast growl and mumble as he heard him walk in water, slowly disappearing from earshot.

Kaldur slowly got up and looked down the hole, smelling waste and seeing dark water in a long bricked tunnel. He backed away and walked to another hallway, stumbling around as he walked down the hallway, dying in his head.

"I…can't do this…anymore," he let out, "I can…do this…I can't…I can…" He couldn't figure himself out, he thought he could, and yet knew he can't. His mind flipped around as his outlook in life looked grim, the toxin apparently triggering a great depression in his universe.

He felt like he wanted to die, stumbling around as he carried his water-bearers with a vast hopelessness.

* * *

Robin and Artemis got to the main door out of the garden, which was now decorated with streamers and balloons, with a banner written in green paint with sloppy letters that said, "End of the Line!"

"Well, looks like Joker is waitin' for us," sighed Robin with a frown.

"Great…him again," grumbled Artemis, looking over the trees, as she heard a twig snap at that direction…as if someone was there a moment ago. She shook her head and turned to Robin, "Shouldn't be too hard, right? Like the last time we fought him?"

"Well, sometimes he's goofy and harmless, and other times he's 'pathic and one-hundred percent evil," explained Robin with a shrug, "Judging by the situation, he's pretty 'pathic right now."

"Right, just what we need…" groaned Artemis, opening the door as they both walked in. The hall was decorated with streamers, balloons, and green paint. Long tables with pink sheets were situated against the wall in front of them, covered in sweets and appetizers.

"Heeeey!" groaned out a disappointed voice, both looking over to see Joker holding a cupcake in one hand and holding something behind his back with the other, eating the cupcake with a frown, then shouting out with cupcake bits coming out his mouth, "You aren't suppose to come in yet! I need to bring in Ted!"

"Who's Ted?" walked in Artemis.

Joker grinned and revealed from behind his back a dismembered head of a balding fat man. "This is Ted!" laughed the Joker, then throwing it on the ground as he began to laugh insanely, slapping his knee with joy.

Both of the heroes were visibly shocked by this, stepping back from the crazed lunatic. "Yeah, 'pathic indeed," let out Artemis.

Robin growled and rushed over at the Joker, kicking him right in the chest and sending him on the floor, the Joker giggling on the floor.

"Naughty boy!" growled Joker with humor, "One of these days I'm gonna have to beat you to death with a crowbar!"

Robin then slammed his foot on the Joker's chest, causing him to cough and laugh at the same time. "You did this!" yelled Robin, "You did this! You and Scarecrow! What's in it for you? Hm? What's in it for you?"

Joker looked at him in pain, still smiling. Then saying in a mocking monotone, "I…was…bored. Ha. Ha. Ha."

Robin growled as he got off of the Joker, Artemis walking next to Robin. "You…were bored? What kind of excuse was that?" interrogated Artemis with hate.

"You obviously have NOT heard of me before, because only someone as dumb as you wouldn't know 'bout my line of work," giggled the Joker as he slowly got up, "And my line of work, in case you forgot, is giving smiles to the world…along with death with a side of mayonnaise."

"I'm not here to listen to any lame jokes, now, where is Arkham?" growled Robin angrily.

"Arkham? You should be more worried about Superboy!" laughed the Joker, giving a statement which shocked both Artemis and Robin.

"What did you do to him!" growled Artemis with bottled-up rage.

"What? I didn't do anything! It was really Scarecrow who did anything!" confessed the Joker with a large dumb grin, "Y'see, Loverboy wasn't really getting affected by the **pant-shitting fear fart** like you other hot honeys. So, Scarecrow gave him even more! And the last time I saw him, he was rolling around like how I **roll in ze hay**!"

"Where is he?" interrogated Robin.

"Dunno, possibly mad like you, me, and Sugar Tits," added the Joker, he then sighed and walked away, waving his wrists around, "If you excuse me, I am organizing my **Going-Away Party**." The two then heard the sound of footsteps, screaming, giggling, and laughter…all in high amount.

"It seems the party has just begun!" laughed the Joker, turning to them and calling out, "Ladies and Gentlemen! Start your screaming!"

From the corner came a stampede of inmates, drooling and wide-eyed. Rotten teeth and unclipped and dirty nails, covered in blood. The two backed away slowly as the Joker looked at them with a large grin, giggling madly at them.

"Nyehehahehehehaheh! Nyehahahahaha! Nyahahahahaaa! AAAAAHAHAAA! HAHAHAAAA! HAHAHAAA!"

As the inmates got closer, the two were forced to bolt away as they would either go after the food with gusto, shoving the confections down their throats like hungry animals, or they would chase after the two, wanting to cut them up or worse.

"Toodles!" called out the Joker, waving at the two as they ran, "If you find Harleen, tell her I'll be there in a minute, I have special plans for her! HAHAHAAAA!"

Joker laughed as the two ran away, bolting across the halls as the beasts ran after them, gnawing and slashing at them, trying to kill them, trying to catch them. Racing down the halls, the Joker's laughter heard throughout the entire asylum. Ringing and echoing across the halls as they ran from the swarm of locusts that were the inmates…

* * *

**The Banana Slug: …Scarecrow is Willy Wonka! OMG!**


	8. Teenage Pornography

**The Banana Slug: You may think I did drugs doing this, but to much of your surprise, this has been done with NO DRUGS AT ALL!**

**Not saying that drug's are bad, m'kay? But I have ingested no hallucinogens or anti-depressants in the making of this fanfic and the only drugs I take are painkillers and sleep medicine…for non-recreational uses…yeah…**

* * *

**Young Justice: Halls of Arkham**

**By The Banana Slug**

**Chapter 8: Teenage Pornography**

* * *

"…Time to round them up…"

It was only Jeremiah and his own sanity as he walked down the halls of his asylum, his coat stained with blood and his glasses horribly bent. A look of fear in his eyes as he passed by the corpses, trying his best to ignore their existence as he traversed hell.

He heard someone groaning in the distance, he hid behind a corner of the hall and looked to see who was passing by. It was Superboy, stumbling around as he mumbled to himself weakly, grabbing his head and slamming against the walls in his stupor, leaving cracks in his way.

Arkham shook his head as he watched him walk away, then bolting to the other hallway as he tried to get to Dr. Quinzel. He needed to see if he can be a hero, if he could save her, and maybe his sanity, he could prove to himself he actually succeeded in this asylum…that this whole thing was not his fault.

He knew now he should have left Scarecrow in Belle Reve, but then would say to himself that he didn't belong in Belle Reve, that Scarecrow's place was in Arkham, under his watchful eyes. He blamed Scarecrow for causing all these horrific monstrosities to run rampant in his famed asylum…and then blame the Team for failing to live up to their promise, blaming Superboy for attacking Scarecrow and letting him get the upper-hand. Arkham contradicted himself over and over and over again, trying to find an answer. He was without one, and it drove him mad.

What kept him going was the fact that one person was still alive, Harleen Quinzel. She was scared, he'd say. She needed him to rescue her, the Joker was keeping her hostage, doing "terrible" things to her.

His inner yet ineffectual hero kicked in, traversing through the depths to save the life of a woman he hardly even liked. She was impulsive, slow, and, in Arkham's opinion, the only reason she got a psychology degree was because of her "gymnastics". But even then, the patients seemed to like her, she always had compassion for them, and not counting the here and now, she was making excellent progress with the Joker when he was returned back to Arkham after the incident on September 14. Thank goodness it was on one of his off days.

And so, Arkham trekked down the halls, his shoes stomping on the blood. He was emotionless, panting heavily, doing his best to survive these halls of Arkham. Halls of his uncle.

* * *

**ARKHAM ISLAND**

**October 26, 5:59 PM**

There was no entrance into Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane, lest one risks their sanity or other's deaths. And still, the area was secured from escape, boats patrolling the waters of darkness and helicopters soaring the skies of dusk. The GCPD covering every exit and patrolling the whole area to ensure no escape attempt is made, despite what the Joker said.

Batman, Black Canery, and Commissioner Gordon stood before Arkham's gates, with Martian pressing his hand against the door with his mind scouring the wretched hive.

"What's the green guy doing again?" asked Gordon as he pulled out a cigar and lit it, smoking it as he watched Manhunter.

"He's trying to see if he can sense the Team through the asylum walls," explained Black Canary, "And perhaps Scarecrow and any of the hostages in the building."

J'onn let his hand slide off as he groaned in pain, backing away as he held his head. Batman walked to J'onn and placed his hand on his shoulder, asking, "Are you alright? Did you find anything?"

"I…felt them…they are scattered…and afraid…" he breathed out, "I…had a hard time reading this home…as if it was alive, alive and angry. It pushed me out, it didn't want me in here."

"What about Scarecrow? Joker? The hostages?" questioned Gordon as he stepped forward with Black Canary.

"It's hard to tell, I think Scarecrow was in the cafeteria with the hostages and Black Mask, and Joker was in the North Wing I believe…too much interference," sighed Martian Manhunter, then looking at the dark asylum as it towered over them, "Something is in these walls, something full of anger, full of sorrow…yet hopeful."

"If I were a superstitious man, I'd say it's the ghost of ol' Amadeus," added Gordon with his fingers on his lit cigar.

"Possibly a psychic imprint," said Martian Manhunter, "There is no other explanation." They all looked to see Superman descend from the skies as Green Arrow walked to them with files in his hands.

"I wanna thank you Commissioner," said Green Arrow with gratitude, "Getting these files would be damn near impossible without your approval."

"Hell, I bet they'd let you have 'em without it!" joked Gordon as he was given the files, then walking to Batman, Canary, and Superman with Green Arrow beside him.

"Arkham sends these files to you?" asked Superman to Gordon.

"Yeah, he trusts me, and I trust him," replied Gordon as he flipped through the different pages, "These files should tell us about the **main wacks** of this place."

He stops in front of the file showing Jonathan Crane's mug shot, with a large black eye and a cracked lip, looking miserable. Gordon then began reading aloud to the four to hear.

"Jonathan Crane, diagnosed with sociopathic tendencies, a large god complex, and cases of tyrannical sadism. Possible split personality disorder with his **Scarecrow** identity. Highly intelligent. Very violent. Extremely manipulative."

"Wasn't he a psychologist here in Arkham?" asked Superman.

"Yes, he was, but he was performing unethical experiments on some of the more mild inmates of Arkham," explained Black Canary, "Batman here discovered evidence of Crane's experiments and was able to apprehend the Scarecrow."

"His experiments…the fear gas?" asked Superman, Batman nodded slightly. Superman then asked, "Is it…that bad?"

"Very, it's a high-grade hallucinogen that increases paranoia and fear reaction as well as create nightmarish hallucinations," explained Batman, "Said hallucinations get worse more time you are exposed to the fear toxin, but it can be negated through willpower, but it is difficult to say."

Batman hesitated for a short while, then revealing, "Even when I was exposed to the toxin, fighting it off through willpower was near-impossible or temporary. The first time I was exposed, I had to stab my own hand with a shard of glass just to keep my mind from fragmenting, which is how we now have our own…personal surgeon."

They looked at the asylum, Martian Manhunter visibly disturbed as they knew, that those teenagers were in the hell that forced Batman to do such an act as impaling his own palm with a shard of glass.

"And what about them?" let out a concerned Green Arrow.

Batman hesitated again, but was forced to admit the truth, "…Robin should manage." Martian Manhunter looked at him with concern, then at the asylum…he wanted in, he wanted in to save the girl he calls his niece. Even after the things she accidentally did to him, he wanted to save her still.

* * *

Deep in its bowels, in a small session room with a knocked over table and a blood splatter on the wall with no visible source, Artemis and Robin hid from the beasts that haunt the asylum's dreams like children from the dark. The two were huddled up in the corner, the beasts running through the halls wildly with flailing limbs.

"…We…are hiding like children," stated Artemis nervously, "We should…be fighting…"

"And get killed," let out Robin logically, his arms around the scared hero as they heard the screams and shouts, "We're better in here…I hope…"

She pressed her head against his chest, tugging at his shirt as she stared blankly at the wall. "I don't even like you…and I'm holding you…like this…"

"…I know," he replied, holding her tightly. It wasn't passion or affection that made them hold each other, it was the fear of not getting out of this hell alive before it skins their insanity like a fresh kill.

"Robin…how are we going to get out of here?" released Artemis as she rested her head on his chest. He couldn't help but feel awkward, he was still a kid, a kid with hormones. Children this age start to think of the opposite sex in a new and favorable light, sometimes in a demented and perverted light, and sometimes it is instead with the same sex with the same rules applying. He looked away and tried to repress such thoughts and looked to see a grate against the wall, a air vent resting near the floor as a shining hope for escape.

"…Artemis…" he muttered out, "I found a way out of here…" He pointed at the grate nearby slowly, she got up quickly and tugged at the grate. She looked over at Robin, the grate coming slowly and needing more help.

Robin took the hint, getting next to her and the grate was ripped out with ease, revealing a spacious escape from the evils that want to hurt and rape them.

He turned to her and warned, "The fear gas is in there, we need to hold our breaths long enough to get the hell outta here."

As Robin climbed in with Artemis following suite, they heard the door swing open behind them. Someone has found them.

They both crawled quickly down into the vent, Artemis yelped in pain as she felt something sharp slash against her thigh, leaving an aching cut and blood seeping down onto her green suit. This motivation made her climb up the shaft more desperate, Robin taking note with the shovings and bumps that someone was after them. Someone wants their flesh. Their bodies. Their sex, even.

Holding in their breaths, going to the closest exit out of the poisonous vents. Robin kicked the grate off of the closest exit and nodded to Artemis, she gave him a slight smile back.

Without thinking, Robin jumped out of the vent, only to find himself falling down a high point…falling into the dirt as spectators watched in horror. He was suddenly in Haley's Circus, falling down the tightrope to the end as he screamed in terror, a loud thud was heard when his body met the cold hard ground.

Darkness was the only company he had in his eyes, he couldn't help but weep. He cried as he felt a cold hard surface on his face and a soft arm pushing against his shoulder.

"Robin! Robin!" called out Artemis, "Don't go under! I don't want to be alone here! Don't leave me! Don't lose it!"

He saw light again, seeing the asylum halls as Artemis knelt before him, holding his shoulder. She looked at him with watery eyes, passing through the edge of sanity. Robin looked up at her, tears in his eyes as well.

"Artemis…I think this is it…" he let out.

"No, no!" she growled, clenching her eyes, "Not like this! We are going to make it! Please! Don't go! Don't give up…Don't leave me here…Please…"

"…Artemis…" breathed out Robin, looking at her with sad eyes. He was a strong soldier, but even strong soldiers can be broken. And so, he had to say it. By god, he didn't want to, but he had to say it to someone.

"…I want to go home…"

* * *

Miss Martian continued to walk down the halls, blood staining her clothes as tears ran down her eyes. She didn't want to cry, but the asylum, the inmates, the Scarecrow, and even the founder was getting to her heart…breaking her and deranging her.

She stopped when she saw a sight that made her freeze and shudder, it was the doors to Arkham's office.

She quickly ran to it, hoping to find Scarecrow and end this once and for all. She ran as fast as she could, tumbling around as she swung the door open. It revealed that no one was inside of the office, it was completely lifeless…

"_Can anyone hear me?_" she let out mentally, "_I found the office…_"

"…_Can you…fix this?_" let out a weak Aqualad.

"_Kaldur?_" she gasped hopefully, "_I am so happy to hear from you!_"

"_Me too, M'gann…_" replied Aqualad, "_Can you find his computer? Can you find Arkham's computer?_"

As M'gann walked to said computer, she heard a voice let out, "_…Did you find Scarecrow?_"

"_Robin?_" Aqualad called out with beaten joy, "_Have you found Arkham? Is Artemis with you?_"

"_We…we're here, Aqualad,_" added Artemis, "_We haven't found him yet…you're in Arkham's office, right?_"

"_Uh…yeah,_" said Miss Martian as she sat down and attempted to enter one of the programs in "Arkham Control", but was unable to proceed into said programs, protected by a complicated password.

"_Robin…do you know the password?_" asked M'gann.

"_No…no I don't,_" admitted Robin, "_I'm surprised Scarecrow got through._"

"_M'gann, is Superboy with you?_" questioned Artemis.

"…_I think I lost him…_" she let out with realization and worry, "_I…don't know how it happened? Can you find him?_"

Silence returned as she waited for a response, but no one could hear her again. She sighed with hope leaving her from the breath she released. As she got up, she heard the sound of scratching, only to disappear to look at the destination of said sound.

She looked over to see the 19th century prison cell, empty and covered in the strange runes.

M'gann walked in the dank cell, looking at the runic markings covering almost every inch of the cell. They seemed to be Latin, or Celtic, the scripture was incredibly jagged and imperfect to tell. She knelt down to feel them, the writing was scratched into the concrete and covered everything except for the ceiling and a circle of clean stone in the middle of the ten foot in diameter cell.

"It's…finished…" she muttered out, herself wondering why she would blurt that out. A great silence was heard after she said that, no inmates, no screams, no worry.

"It was ineffective."

She turned around to see Amadeus Arkham, standing over her. He looked clean, normal, and sane. The only indication otherwise was his eyes, which looked dead as they gazed upon her humanoid disguise.

"You…did this?" she asked curiously, "You are…Amadeus Arkham."

"I am…" he breathed out, "And this…was a binding spell, a spell to ward off a great and terrible evil from claiming me like my mother…it wasn't till the last day of the winter of my life did I complete this incantation. But in time, the spell weaned power and was subsequently ineffective…without her guardian to protect against the mad devils and the shadow that leads them."

"This…can't be real," she let out, standing up before Amadeus Arkham as he tilted his head.

"You believe this some hallucination caused by my last candidate?" he questioned, "Funny, did we not meet at yonder beach? Did thou not see crying against the walls?"

"And wasn't it you who attacked me and called me a whore?" interrogated M'gann with spite.

"And why should I apologize for that?" scoffed Amadeus, "You had the power to lord over these primitive creatures, you should have been able to see the clues, the hints. You could have averted this. M'gann M'orzz, this **is **your fault."

"How do you know my name, Arkham? Tell me. Tell me!" she demanded, her patience running thin.

"Because, my dear," he sighed with weakness, "We are connected, you and I. We both know what will have to be done. I promise you."

"…I…I don't have time for this," she groaned, passing by Amadeus and walking to the door. She stopped and turned to him, saying angrily, "I have no time dealing with some…crazy ghost! I have friends to save and…"

"Why not? Is it because there was no episode that **she** was stuck in an asylum? In reality?" interrogated Arkham, causing M'gann to freeze in place, "Is it because _Megan_ never dealt with such reality? With horror? With pain? With loss? It is time you live in the shadows of Arkham than some fictional protagonist. And when that time comes when you no longer need a façade to hide your own beautiful skin…you will know what needs to be done."

M'gann couldn't give him an answer, she turned away, not saying a word. How could she…she knew how right he was, but she are not let him win with the thought he was completely right. Without a word, she opened the door and walked out of the office, leaving back into the valley of death as the door slammed itself shut as she walked down those dark halls.

* * *

As this happened, Jeremiah was walking up a flight of stairs, passing by the dead bodies on the floor, bleeding and dismembered. He would come across passive inmates, huddling up a corner and yammering to themselves about God, sexual abuse, and quantum physics. And cheese.

He looked around and saw the wooden door to a very old room that was very familiar to him personally. Arkham once visited that room when he was a child, it was the old room of his great-uncle's mother, Elizabeth Arkham. As a child, he visited the room out of curiosity, or perhaps it was the fact he thought someone called him from within.

The trauma of what he saw inside of there was too much for him to even consider remember, but after that day…he swore never to enter that room ever again. Today is the day he contradicts himself.

He stumbles to the door, pressing his hand against the cold stone walls as he comes closer and closer to the door to nowhere. He presses his hand against the wood, pushing it back as the room was revealed by the light from the hall.

It was an old Victorian Era room with paintings of Amadeus as a boy, along with his mother and father. He even saw a picture of his grandfather as a babe. The window was bricked up, and this room was locked for some time…ever since Arkham came here as a boy.

He looked at the large white bed, he saw a figure laying on it, laying on its side. It was a woman, wearing a white coat, grey underwear, and her golden head burying against the pillow.

"Harleen?" questioned Arkham, stepping closer ever so carefully towards the bed. She responded by turning her head at him, looking at her with large sad eyes and a small pout.

"Arkham…" she whimpered sadly, "I…what did I do wrong? I…thought we was making progress…"

Jeremiah didn't say a word, he sighed as he stood in front of her. "So did I…" he admitted, he looked around when he heard a breath from nowhere. And so, he asked, "Is the Joker here?" He actually hoped it was the Joker and not…who he thought it was.

"He…he entered in that room over there," replied Harleen, pointing at a door at the corner of the room. Arkham's heart dropped at the sight of that door, knowing full well that something else was in there from his childhood.

"I…I cannot go alone," admitted Arkham in fright.

"I'll…go with you," let out Harleen, getting up and hugging his arm as he looked at her. He felt even more stressed by the fact an attractive woman is holding onto his arm, he gulped and stepped forward with her, hoping to use his wits and psychology to combat the insane clown.

Arkham pushed the door, slowly opening to reveal darkness…absolute darkness, with a cold gale felt from within, only making Arkham more anxious to turn back than enter…

* * *

**The Banana Slug: I was originally going to have Artemis insinuate that Robin and her have sex to get rid of the stress only for him to turn it down, but I thought that was really stupid and cheesy.**

**Also, I was also thinking of having Robin masturbate in a later chapter to get rid of the stress…but again, really stupid and might be pushing it a bit too far. Sure, he's a teenager, but not a horny teenager.**

…**let that be Batman's problem. ZING!**


	9. Ready or Not

**The Banana Slug: I showed my mother Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, and mind you, my mother is someone who cares little for comic books. And again, mind you, she does loves superhero movies like Batman and Superman.**

**So anyway, I showed her the comic…she loved it.**

**She loved the whole art-style, the story, and found the scene where Joker grabbed Batman's ass wonderfully funny…saying it was like taking shrooms. XD**

"**Holy LSD, Batman!"**

* * *

**Young Justice: Halls of Arkham**

**By The Banana Slug**

**Chapter 9: Ready or Not**

* * *

**ARKHAM ASYLUM**

**October 26, 6:58**

In Arkham's office, Scarecrow stood before the desk and pressed his hand against the warm seat, rubbing it slowly as he growled in frustration, looking at the computer which had the Arkham Program on screen. He grunted as he sat back down, saying with a sigh, "Someone was here…this experiment has come to an end. And so, I shall reiterate, time to round them up."

Before him was Joker, Black Mask, and Two-Face, commanders of Scarecrow's coup. Black Mask rubbed his forehead and growled angrily. "Fucking brats! Should've killed the bitches when you had the chance. Fuck."

"Calm, Sionis," hissed the Scarecrow, "In their state of delusion, they should be relatively easy to handle. I want you three to bring them to the group therapy room in the West Wing…except from Robin, I have everything I need from the boy…you may put him with the hostages."

"And Arkham?" asked Joker with a great big smile.

"Hostages as well," explained the Scarecrow, "After I am done with the children, I will kill everyone one of them and leave their corpses for the dogs of Arkham. The inmates have the honor of dealing with Arkham and the boy. Anyway they want."

"I predict a future of sex abuse and cannibalism for the future of the Bitch Wonder," joked the Joker in morbid taste. Two-Face glared at him while Black Mask let out a small laugh.

"Now, if you excuse me, I have a very important call to make," hissed the Scarecrow, then ordering as they made their way to the door, "Find the Atlantean, Kryptonian, and the daughter of that bastard Lawrence…I'll get the Martian myself."

"Gettin' frisky with the patients, aren't we?" joked Black Mask as Two-Face exited the room while Joker stood next to Black Mask with a grin.

"Get. To. Work," growled Scarecrow with annoyance, Black Mask shrugged and left with Joker, who laughed at Scarecrow's response. The Scarecrow grumbled to himself as he picked up a phone, then reaching into the pockets of his Belle Reve uniform, pulling out a small strip of paper filled with numbers and looking at the clock on the wall. He watched it hit seven o'clock, then running to the phone, dialing in the number and waiting for a response.

After a long wait, he heard a faint and hushed, "…Crane?"

"Ah, I knew you wouldn't fail me," laughed the Scarecrow, "The Team is within my walls…it is going fine, so fine. The reactions to the fear toxin is overly successful, the knowledge of said reactions is almost too much."

"_All men by nature desire knowledge_, Crane, you just desire it the most," advised the caller, "Canary's and your psychological profile of the Team should benefit me greatly."

"The children should be brought to me soon…and afterwards?" asked the Scarecrow as he slouched against the chair.

"…IF you do manage to kill them, the Justice League will be devastated to the point of distrust and blame, and then defection. They may even make an attempt at your life out of some poor excuse for revenge…" said the voice, "Are you prepared for that?"

Scarecrow scoffed at that remark, "Like they will…I look at every one of them and see celebrities who whore themselves for attention…why do you think people like the Joker still walk around? Because people love a good show."

"Quite, my dear friend," sighed the voice with slight amusement, "And if you should fail, we will still win. Seeing their reactions and their inner humanities will prove beneficial in the long run. Even when they come up top, I will be able to integrate their weaknesses to my master plan. One way or another, we win."

"How?" asked Scarecrow as he leaned in on the desk.

"Wait…and see," replied his mysterious contact.

"…You never told me who you are," hissed the Scarecrow curiously.

"…Goodbye, Crane," replied the voice, "It has been good talking to you again." And with that, the call ended, leaving Scarecrow at his desk. Curious, yet trusting of his new partner, who seemed so familiar to him.

* * *

Superboy, still suffering, still moaning in terror as he wandered across the halls, hearing a lullaby in his mind that played from nowhere. The walls were becoming more and more organic, the blood getting to his waist now.

"Stop it! Stop it!" he groaned angrily, "Leave me alone! Leave me alone! DAMN YOU! Bastard! Bastard. I'm your son. I'm your son. Damn you! Bastard. Hate. Damn. Everything. Who? Huh. Damn."

He continued to yammer on to himself as he climbed up the stairs on all fours, the blood draining away as he got up. He then heard a dark laughter from ahead, panting and smiling thinking it was someone to help.

"Dad! Dad?" he yelled as he ran up the stairs, "Dad! It's me! It's me! I'm here! We need to kill Scarecrow! Kill Scarecrow! Kill Scarecrow!" He then got up, revealing the hallway with the large gaping hole in front of him. He shook his head rapidly, growling angrily at his own state.

"No! No!" he roared as he stepped forward, only to stop in front of the hole, "This isn't real! Scarecrow's gas! Joker's got a bomb. Arkham is missing. Mexican train. Stop! Must keep it together. The voices aren't real, the blood is not real, this is real, the hall is real."

As he muttered, he turned around and saw a nightmarish gaunt figure, giggling as it slashed its knife at him without a moment to waste. He frightened Superboy so, this living corpse covered in scars. Conner jumped back and dodged the blade, only to fall down into the hole and scream as the darkness was his only companion in the mucky waters. He pulled himself up and saw the figure look down at him, pressing the blunt side of its blade against its palm, rubbing softly and sensually. Superboy heard an inhuman growl as it made its way down the sewers, the animalistic noises growing louder and closer.

Without thinking…he bolted. He bolted into the darkness of the sewers from the devil inside.

* * *

As Robin and Artemis limped through the hall, they looked to see a dead security guard on the floor, his head chopped off and leaving a bloody stump from where it once was…the head was nowhere to be found.

"Hello? Anyone there?' called out a voice on the radio. Artemis rushed to the radio instinctually and answered it.

"Hello! Hello! Oh god! Who is this?" panted Artemis frantically, finally getting another human being alive in this asylum.

"It's me, Jeremiah," replied the voice, "I found Dr. Quinzel…apparently the Joker repeatedly…raped her…and left her behind." This made Robin uneasy for a second, not because of the rape, but at the surprise of Joker raping anything. Of all the crimes, rape was never one of them for some odd reason.

"My god…where are you two?" asked Artemis as calm as she could.

"…The South Wing…in the old remnants of the Arkham Mansion," replied Arkham calmly, "Hurry, I believe the Joker is here with us."

"We're on it," ended Artemis, getting off the corpse and turning to Robin, "We'll be able to finish our part, we'll get Arkham, then Scarecrow."

"Right, we have to hurry, if Joker's there…who knows what," let out Robin, and with a sigh, they both ran through the halls past the dead corpses that littered the floor. Artemis was overly enthusiastic of finishing this horrid mission, and so, ran the fastest of the scared two.

"Artemis! Artemis!" called out Robin, then slipping on a puddle of blood on the floor, watching as she ran out of sight, too exited to care for her mind was too focused on getting to Arkham. Too excited to see the hole in front of her in time, causing her to shriek with surprise as she fell in, only to swiftly grab onto the ledge.

"Damn! Stupid, stupid, stupid!" growled Artemis, berating herself, "Keep it together girl." She began to pull herself up from the hole, but with nothing to grab onto, it was quite difficult. With steel bars poking her body and her feet dangling above the murky waters below.

Suddenly, she felt something grab her leg, or at least she thought so, or maybe someone was there already. She screamed as she attempted to pull herself out of the hole, feeling the arm touching her leg and making its way to her thigh.

"No! Help! Robin!" she yelled out, but she could see no one come for her.

"Artemis! Artemis!" she would hear someone shout, but in her state, where it came from was a mystery. She quickly swung her bow at the assailant as she grabbed hold of the metal tubes jutting from the sides of the whole. As her green bow would smack against whoever was attacking her, an arm reached down from above and grabbed her arm roughly, yanking her up from the dark smelly hole as she still frantically swung at the enigma. When pulled out, not caring who helped her, grabbed her arrows and began shooting into the hole wildly.

"Artemis! Artemis!" yelled the voice. The arrows flew into the hole despite the fact someone tugged her shoulder, she was determined that whatever was in there had to die…that is until she felt one more tug, harder than the rest. She stepped back as she panted frantically, looking at the hole with eyes filled with water as they dripped down her cheek.

"Artemis! Get a grip!" ordered the voice, "I know how you feel! I'm scared too! Even though you don't want to admit it…I…"

"…I'm scared…" she whimpered out, "Oh god…I'm scared…I'm so sorry…I just wanted to get out of here…I didn't mean to abandon you Robin…I…"

Robin stood behind her, wiping his tears from his cheek. "I…know, I want to finish this whole thing too…but we need to keep a cool head...or else we'll…ugh…ugh. Gugh. Nh! AGH!"

Artemis was shocked by the noises he began to make, noises humans make when the worse has just struck them. She slowly turned around, to see the cause of his pain. That which has been watching her young form run throughout its home, watching her legs, rear, stomach, breasts, wanting every inch of her. Her stalker in the halls.

Robin, was on the floor, bleeding from a stomach wound, with the red life force dripping out the gaping knife wound as he held against it. He looked up at Artemis, as if trying to tell her to run…but was grunting and coughing too much to be able to tell her.

The stalker towered over, gaunt as a skeleton, half-naked and covered in specks of blood. He stood over her as he wielded his knife, smiling down her with his yellow teeth as his tired eyes looked at her. What caught her attention was the scars, all of them…all the tally marks covering his body.

"Found…you…" hissed the stalker, hissed Victor Zsasz.

Artemis quickly reached behind her and grabbed an arrow, aiming it right at him as she kept her bow steady. Zsasz was not intimidated, simply staring down at her as she tried to move around so that he would possibly position himself in front of the hole. Zsasz was not stupid, he simply slid around just to keep in front of her, waving his knife around playfully.

"You were so tough when we last met, Artemis," he hissed passionately, "Is it the fear toxin in the halls? Is reality truly skinning itself to reveal the deep dark truth underneath? Or maybe…maybe you are just a small child…all along, hiding against the abyss."

"Shut up!" she growled angrily, "Just shut up!"

"It's the human condition, to hide their weakness," sighed Zsasz in feigned boredom as he pressed his knife against his finger and twirled it, "In pure death, you don't feel such weaknesses…when I liberate you from this world…by killing you. A phoenix reborn from the ashes. To fly into darkness"

"Artemis…get…out of here…" groaned Robin as he laid on the floor, "Find Arkham…stop this…whole thing…"

"Don't worry, bird," cooed Zsasz as he stepped away from Artemis and stood near the broken sidekick, "After I am done with her, I will be adding your mark on my temple as well…"

Without a moment to waste, Artemis shot her arrow at Zsasz. The impact arrow flew at Zsasz as Artemis quickly bolted away, leaping over the hole and racing through the eldritch abomination that was Arkham Asylum.

Victor quickly moved away as he saw it hit the wall behind him, he smirked and looked down at Robin, who grabbed his leg in an attempt to defeat the serial killer. Robin was too weak with his stomach bleeding, while Zsasz was perfectly healthy as he chuckled at the Boy Wonder.

He reached down and grabbed Robin's hair, the boy growling as he strangled and scratched his wrist as he was dragged down the hall.

"Y'know…there used to be someone who lived here that had the same name as I did…Victor," sighed the madman as he dragged the struggling Robin down the hall, leaving a faint trail of blood, "However, we had very different viewpoints, mine was salvation, his was love. Love for a corpse…in a manner of speaking."

They got closer to a large metal door, with many different locks and a small frozen window at the top. Victor unlocked it and swung it open, a frozen wind hitting both of them.

"Another funny different thing about him is…" explained Zsasz, stopping to give a small chuckle, "He can't stand hot temperatures…poor old Mr. Freeze, so much different from Mr. Zsasz! Am I right?"

He then flung Robin into the cold room, the boy doing his best to get up as Zsasz held the door open, glaring triumphantly at the Boy Wonder. "I'll come back after I take care of the blonde bitch…then it will be YOUR turn to enter the temple of flesh."

With that, he slowly closed the door as Robin finally got up, limping to the door wildly. "No! No! Zsasz! Zsasz don't leave me! Don't leave me!" he screamed out as the door slammed shut, locking before him.

Robin fell against the door, sliding down onto the frozen floor as he reached into his belt, grabbing a small medical kit from within. He didn't know if the stab wound hit his intestines or not, but closing the wound for now was very important. He pulled out a small capsule of alcohol and broke it over an antiseptic wipe, his med kit laying next to him as he rubbed the wound. He groaned in pain as he felt the alcohol disinfecting the wound, then throwing the swab away as he grabbed a long black suture and a small pair of scissors.

"Damn…I hate this part," he groaned out, stitching up the wound as he growled in pain, hoping that some higher power could see his misery…and send someone to save him, Artemis, and the whole entire team from this damnation.

* * *

The smell was horrible as Superboy trekked through the dark spacious sewers underneath Arkham, his foot knee-deep in water filled with the waste and filth left behind for years, abandoned like him.

He resisted the urge to vomit as he kept moving through the sewers, hoping to find some way out of here and kill the Scarecrow. His mind was so far gone that he was actually willing to kill something, to kill a being that shouldn't be allowed to live on this Earth…the Scarecrow, in his mind, had to die.

He argued himself as he heard the sounds of rats squeaking, the sound of water moving, the sound of a crocodile growling.

Conner then heard a scream of a woman…then he heard the chewing of meat. "Who's there? No! Answer! What?" he ranted out, he was not in control of his own words at times, the fear toxin apparently damaging his speech, "Can't…control myself. I need to find…M'gann…I need my M'gann! I want M'gann!"

He quickly turned around after hearing the sound of a loud and thunderous roar in the distance, and for some strange reason, he decided to walk toward the sound.

"Is that you Scarecrow?" he rambled on and on, "Is that you? You want to die? Okay! I'll make you die! I'll make you die! I'll make you die. I'll make you die. I'll make you die. I'll make you die."

He continued to say that as he walked through the brown dirty waters, deeper and deeper into the sewers. He kept hearing the low growling and the chewing of wet meat as it grew louder and louder with every step.

Superboy soon was so close that it was over the next corner, hearing the meat being chewed and ripped from the other-side. Superboy laughed as he stumbled through, ready to face what he believed to be the Scarecrow, only to see something so terrible that it forced him to stand there like a statue, frozen by fear.

What he saw was Killer Croc, hunching over a dead body with a great big bloody gash where the chest was at. Blood dripping into the water as it stained the croc's terrible claws and his grinning maw. But it wasn't that the croc was horrifically eating a corpse that brought such terror to Superboy, it wasn't all the blood spurting out, and it wasn't the croc himself.

It was Miss Martian, he was eating Miss Martian. Miss Martian was dead in Killer Croc's arms, her body limp as he eyes were rolled over, her mouth dripping out red blood before him.

"Tastes like chicken," hissed Killer Croc amusingly, then releasing a bellowing laughter at his own quip.

* * *

**The Banana Slug: Only persons who are deep in comics would get that, if you got that, then you are cool.**

**That ending scene, not the joke I told a friend over my shoulder, because that wouldn't make sense. :)**


	10. GAME OVER

**The Banana Slug: Sorry for the delay, business in the place we call the real world.**

**It is funny, I have many multi-chapter story, and this is the only one that has over a hundred hits on each page…that isn't porn.**

…**Must be the "Arkham" in the title. Yes, I am most definite that is the case, because we ALL know of Arkham Asylum! We ALL know of Arkham City! That's why we all read this here fic, so there. You all have good taste.**

* * *

**Young Justice: Halls of Arkham**

**By The Banana Slug**

**CHAPTER 10: GAME OVER**

* * *

**ARKHAM ASYLUM**

**October 26, 7:23 PM**

The door slowly creaked as Aqualad stepped through it, sweating and panting like a tired dog in Summer. The sound of heart beating heard ringing through his Atlantaen ears as he stepped through the strangely empty hall, with balloons and streamers up on the ceiling, as if this whole blood bath was some sort of grand festival.

He walked with his arms hanging from his tired body, with his head low as he went farther and farther into the abyss of Arkham.

"_Can…anyone here me_?" he called out, trying to get someone through the telepathic link, "_Hello? The situation is dire…can anyone hear-_"

"…_It's me…it's Superboy_," he replied in a dead tone.

"_Conner, what is the situation_?" asked Aqualad, before falling to his knees and grabbing his head.

"_It's Miss Martian…she's dead_," answered Superboy.

"_What? …No…that…no, that's impossible,_" released an utterly shocked Kaldur, clenching his eyes as he heard a ring in his ear.

"_Kaldur…it's Robin…_" called out another voice, "_Artemis…she's dead too…_"

"…_Artemis? …How?"_ crowed Aqualad.

"_You failed, Kaldur,_" replied Robin, "_You said you could lead us…but you did not…and you killed us…you killed us all…_"

"_Robin…don't say that…_" he groaned in misery.

"_We're all dead, Kaldur,_" added Miss Martian, "_Every single one of us._"

"_Now, you need to die_," said Artemis, "_So that you could lead us._"

"_Lead us to hell,_" hissed the Scarecrow. Aqualad fell on his back as he heard the Scarecrow laugh at him in his mind. What should be cold linoleum floor was actually hot sand, pressing against his face. He opened his eyes only to close them again, the sun blinding him.

Aqualad pressed his hand against the sand as he got up to his feet, opening his eyes again to see an endless desert of white sand, blowing in the wind. He shook his head as he felt intense heat drain him of life with every strong gust.

"No…No!" he growled out, weakly falling on his knees as he began banging his head with open palms, "This isn't real! No desert! No desert! All in my head! All in my head! Not really a desert! The desert isn't real! The desert! No! Gah!"

Kaldur fell on his sides as he clutched his head, the hotness reaching his arm as he felt more and more dehydrated, the water leaving his body over time as he was trapped under the white sun in the white desert. A scarecrow in the distance made from the corpse of children. No Justice.

* * *

"You killed her! You murdering son of a bitch!" screamed an enraged Superboy, his bloodshot eyes staring directly at the Killer Croc.

"I killed her alright!" chuckled Croc as he dropped the bloody gnawed corpse of Miss Martian on a pile of bones, stomping towards Superboy with hunger in his eyes, "But don't worry, I'll eat you too, then you can digest with that whore. Now get! In! My! Belly!"

An animalistic roar was heard when Croc rushed at Superboy with teeth glaring and claws glimmering, who gave a similarly animalistic roar back as he ran forward with his fist ready to slam into the beast. One tough punch of pure wrath met with Croc's cheek, and another, and another, and another.

The beast was sent back with every slam to the face, growling with every punch as they met with his scaly face. With a hiss, he opened his mouth, a dazed Superboy didn't even notice when his right fist was going into the beast's maw.

**SNAP!**

Superboy screamed in pain as Waylon Jones's jaw snapped shut, teeth breaking through the skin slightly as blood dripped from the Kryptonian boy's arm. Croc lifted Conner into the air, tooth digging deep into his arm as he began to shake the boy's body. Killer Croc attempted to dig his teeth deeper, but the skin was too tough.

Superboy growled as he used his other hand to punch the side of Croc's head, the beast responded by shaking his body like a rag doll. This did not stop Superboy from slamming his fist into Killer Croc's head over and over again, always the same spot.

It wouldn't take long for Killer Croc to become woozy from the constant beats to the head, he groaned as his mouth slid open with Conner falling into the murky waters. Superboy lifted his legs and slammed his feet onto the back of Killer Croc's legs, causing the beast to roar in pain as he fell on his knees and his hands deep in the brown water.

"You fucking bastard!" roared Superboy, jumping on Killer Croc and continuing to wail on the beast with every primal fist, "I'll kill you! Go to hell, you fucking piece of shit!"

Killer Croc roared as he got up, throwing the enraged Superboy off as he began to lumber away, growling with anger. Superboy, his eyes wide with anger and his mouth drooling profusely, roared with hate as he ran at Croc and slammed him against the wall.

Waylon growled in pain as he fell on the water after his head met with the brick wall, hissing with tire with the beast incredibly woozy from the beats to the head. Superboy growled and panted like an angry wolf as he stomped through the river of shit, the smell not even getting to him anymore.

He grabbed Croc by the head, looking at the beast dead in the eye. "Why? Why did you kill her?" questioned Superboy with an emotionless wide eyed expression, the left one twitching profusely, "She was perfect! I loved **her**! She loved **me**! **We** were soul mates! And **you** killed her! Why? I know! Because your nothing but a **dumb animal**! A dumb **filthy** animal that needs to be **PUT DOWN**!"

Killer Croc could only chuckle at Superboy, finding pride in being called an animal. "You're nuts, morsel," mocked Killer Croc with a guttural hiss, "I have no fucking clue what you are saying. Maybe you belong here **after all**!" And with that, Killer Croc began laughing at Superboy, right in his face.

And then…he snapped.

Superboy roared with hate as he began wailing into the beast, smashing his fists into his reptilian face as the beast was soon out. But even the Croc's unconsciousness didn't save it from the blows of the drugged Superboy as he continued to wail on Killer Croc's disgusting face.

His beatings began going slower and slower, more tired and more tired, before stopping and panting as he watched the body of the beaten Croc. His face covered in blood, both Conner's, M'gann's, and his own, with open sores and bruises. Conner got up, tears falling from his eyes as he turned around to walk to Miss Martian's desecrated corpse…only to be shocked by what he found.

It was the corpse of a nurse in Arkham, not Miss Martians. He grabbed his head and began to hyperventilate, shaking his head wildly as he breathed rapidly.

"Oh god! What is happening!" he cried out in mental anguish, "Oh god, I'm tearing apart! **OH GOD! I'M TEARING APART!**"

"_Superboy! Superboy! Calm down!_" called out Miss Martian telepathically, "_It's okay! It's okay! I'm okay!_"

"…_M'gann? M'gann? Oh god,_" cried Superboy in his mind, "_You're…you're alright! You're alive! Where are you?_""_It's okay, I'm over at the North Hall_," she replied with care, "_Where are you?…Superboy? Superboy…Answer me._"

"_Oh, what a shame, you've lost contact with your own little sweetheart! How thrilling!_" rang a voice in his head. Superboy couldn't move, stuck there as he stood like a statue, motionless and frozen as he stood in the muck.

From the shadows he saw a figure, a pink figure that disgusted him. It was Professor Pyg, standing there with his pink pig mask on and wearing nothing but a red pair of women's underwear, holding a scalpel and a bottle of pills.

"Don't be afraid," he cooed out, like the disgusting beast he was, "Normally we live in soil."

"Now now, Lazlo, let's not be rude!" giggled a voice, revealing the Mad Hatter stepping next to him, holding a handkerchief to his nose.

"But…but I wanna make him pretty!" groaned the pig, "I wanna make him PERFECT! How can you do this to me! Mnn Grgh!"

"Now, now, Scarecrow's orders," sighed the Mad Hatter as he patted his back, "He wants to give a nice little session with those young children. The girls especially. Shameless little bitches."

Mad Hatter then held out his hand, Superboy's body gave a bow and took it. "That's a good little trotter," giggled Professor Pyg, "Come with us, child…the doctor will see you now!"

Against his will, he followed the two benders of the mind through the caverns of the sewers. The sound of a growl from the beast echoed across the sewers as he was led to a red light coming from the stairs out of the home of waste and cannibals. As if heaven was hell, and he was following the demons back into the inferno. It was like there was no hope, because God was dead.

* * *

The musty air was prevalent in the old part of Arkham, an abandoned corridor hidden in the room of Elizabeth Arkham covered in spider webs and rats feeding on the rotten food left behind. Dead wood and moldy portraits left with stained white sheets covering the statues and memoirs of his great uncle, Jeremiah's uncle, Amadeus Arkham.

It was there that the good professor Jeremiah Arkham and the not-so-good psychologist Harleen Quinzel trekked through, in a chase for the mad clown inside.

"So…what's this place here?" she asked as she tugged her coat down, only her bare legs to be seen now.

"It was a part of the old mansion this place was built around," explained Jeremiah wisely, "After his mother's untimely death, he decided to help those less fortunate to survive the constant throws destiny waved at people like him and create an insane asylum, only to be buried with the place. This whole asylum was a place for healing, and now…it seems to be a throng for the cockroaches and monsters that poison this city, Gotham City."

Arkham stepped back and held out his hand, hearing the noise of a rat knocking down a vase with it breaking into many twilight shards. He sighed and shook his head, then saying with a hushed tone, "Excuse me if I seem a bit jittery, I've only been here once…as a child, really." He then sighed and wiped his forehead with his clammy hands in the silent cold room.

"Can ya…tell me 'bout that?" asked Harleen with a great curiosity and slight fear.

"…When I was a boy, I entered the room of Elizabeth Arkham…and ventured into this forgotten home even though my parents told me not too," explained a bemoaned Arkham with a sigh, "And something happened, something not even I could explain today, I saw…my great-uncle…Amadeus Arkham…standing in front of me, old and decayed. He told me to carry on the name, to carry on the heart of Arkham…to fight against the demon that haunted him and be the black knight of Arkham Asylum, the black knight of Gotham City…" Jeremiah stopped and began coughing loudly, pressing his palm to his mouth as Harleen looked around the room, staying right behind her superior.

"And after that, I fled," he continued with a aura of melancholy, "I was so frightened, that I never entered this horrible place again…I don't recall how Joker could find a place such as this to hide himself in…"

"Dr. Arkham! Dr. Arkham!" she called out, pointing at a set of stairs downwards, "I think I saw the Joker!" And with that, she bolted rapidly to the stairs and out of Arkham's sight before he could call out back for her.

"Get back, you stupid girl!" he shouted back, and with no reply and a low tolerance to the situation, he gathered what was left of his courage and ran after the untrained psychologist.

Running down the steps he felt a breath on his neck, but was too much full of adrenaline to acknowledge it right now. He stopped once reaching the end, seeing the cold darkness of the wine cellar he found himself in.

Full of terror, he walked around as he scanned the whole cellar with his breath cold and shaken. His fists clenched as his eyes darted around as if he was addicted to methamphetamines, biting his lower lips slightly as he rubbed his fingertips together.

A moan was heard, and he looked to his right, and he saw…a figure of his nightmares. A figure as bright as day that stood before him like a scarecrow, his feet floating above the ground as his face was hidden, but the Victorian era clothing spoke too much to Jeremiah Arkham.

"…No…No!" he gasped in shock and terror, "You can't be real! You're dead! YOU'RE DEAD!" And as sudden as he saw the ghost of his family, he was struck behind the back. The lights going out as his body fell on the floor like a rag doll before his demon, the concrete floor breaking his nose as he fell into a deep sleep.

"…Joker…" he sighed in his last breath before entering the realm of dreams. And all he heard before going under was this.

"…Sweet dreams, puddin'…"

* * *

The cold feeling of the freezer cell numbed Robin as he held his wound and paced back and forth. The Boy Wonder shivered and panted out frozen sighs as his sweat turned to driblets of ice.

"Okay…okay…okay," he repeated over and over again, trying to think in a situation as this, "Think, Rob, think. Look at the positives, yeah, positives. One: Batman and the League are going to be here, they have to, it's Batman we're talkin' 'bout, he's handled more riots in Arkham than I ever did…which is one before this one. Now Two: Artemis is fine…she's an expert fighter, she can kick butt, and has those trick arrows, meaning Zsasz is no chance for her. Yeah. And, and, and Three: I think I got myself a gadget to bust my ass outta this ice box…yeah…"

He stood there, looking down as if defeated. "Now…the negatives," he let out as he began pacing once again, "One: The hostages, Scarecrow will know if Batman tries anything, he may be Batman, but he's not invisible. Two: Artemis is infected with the fear toxin, hampering her judgment and abilities. Zsasz, howev, is not and 'pletely calm, meaning he has an advantage…and Three: If Freeze wasn't able to get out, a super-smart genius, then how am I?"

He groaned as he leaned against the cold-metal door, banging the back of his head against it as he crossed his arms together. "This is bull…I've been trained for this crap…I should be able to do this…but…I'm not Batman…he'd get out…but I can't get out…I can't get out because…I'm not Batman…I'm Robin…just Robin…"

Suddenly, he heard someone walk by the door. And with a quick jolt, he began banging on the door and looking at the frozen window sill.

"Hello! Hello!" he called out frantically, "Help! Get me out! Let me out! Let me out! I'm freezing! I need out! Let me out!" He wouldn't know if it was his teammates, Arkham, Batman, or even Scarecrow, Joker, or any other insane criminal in this dark place, but he had to see if any of them would help him in his great moment of torment.

And like a godsend, the door unlocked and opened before him. Robin, breathing with relief, ran out and fell on the floor, slipping on the ice inside and panting on the bloody linolium floor with a feeling salvation.

"Thank…you…" he let out with deep breaths.

"Don't mention it, kid," said the voice of his rescuer.

"…Why did you save me," interrogated Robin emotionlessly, staring at the floor as he frowned.

"I wanted to see you again," replied his rescuer, who grabbed Robin by the shoulder and flipped him on his back roughly. The young hero was blinded by the light, with a dark figure standing over him.

"I don't…understand…" let out Robin as the figure knelt down, revealing his face to the Boy Wonder…well, half his face.

"I'm gonna teach you a lesson, punk," growled the man known only as Two-Face, "I'm gonna teach ya a lesson of running from fate…" With that, he showed his coin at the boy, as he laid there drained and panting with fear.

"Heads…I beat the crap out of you and place you with the hostages," he growled out, "Tails…I fucking tear your face and eyes off and throw you into Croc's hunting grounds…blind and screaming, how long you think he'll need to find your punk-ass?"

And with that, his coin flipped into the air as Robin reached out at Two-Face, either to strike him or to grab the coin. However, Two-Face grabbed his arm with one hand and caught his coin with the other, and slammed that fist into Robin's face with the coin between his fingers. Robin grunted in pain as the metal coin met his cheek, getting cut by the sharp edge of the silver dollar.

Two-Face stood up before Robin as he glared down at him, looking at him as if he was just a dumb kid over his head, sneering at him as he looked at the coin…

He chuckled and looked down at the young boy. "Y'know, this place is suppose to be an establishment of healing…but it is nothing but hypocritical bullshit. There are many sadists with a penchant for playing psychological mind games, like Joker or Black Mask…but they aren't the ones who took my coin and replaced it with a pack of cards. I was so lost that I pissed my pants daily and was the scrawniest thing you ever saw, too many decisions to know what to do."

Two-Face then grabbed Robin by the collar and lifted him to eye level, Robin glaring at him with his teeth bare and full of blood. "Go ahead, laugh, laugh like the immature little prick you are, because I know why you laugh. Because you think that if the person retaliates, you'll be able to say some dumb quip and get out Scott's Free…but then, what happens when that person actually is up in front of you? Do you still laugh? Or piss your pants like the tit-sucker you are!" Robin responded with a spit of blood in the bad-side of Two-Face's face. He responded with a smile, and a punch to the stomach.

Robin groaned as he back away, clutching his stomach as Two-Face calmly walked to the Boy Wonder. Without warning, Two-Face curled his fingers together as he slammed his fist right into Robin's scrotum. Robin was breathless, shocked as the pain surged through his body as he fell to his knees.

Pale yellow vomit escaped from his lips as he clutched his "damaged goods", and before he could regain composure, a fist slammed into his face and sent him back into the floor. Two-Face, grinning at Robin's pain, sent a kick right into the boy's stomach, causing him to groan and pant in extreme pain, his testicles still screaming in agony from Two-Face's attack.

Two-Face knelt over his body and grabbed his collar once again, raising his fist with the coin between middle and ring finger, and slamming it into Robin's face repeatedly. Two-Face continued to wail on Robin as he grunted and growled in agony, with the world getting darker and darker as the fists continued to fall on him.

* * *

**ARKHAM ASYLUM?**

**October 31, 6:66 PM**

The halls laughed with a shrill tone, Miss Martian not acknowledging them even though the breathed slightly with every pump of her lungs. She sweated from the heat that began hurting her mind, as if it were some sort of sauna.

A door as in front of the hallway she walked through, and as she began to walk closer to it, the blood oozed from the bottom and top as the sounds of screams were heard behind it.

Against her better judgment, she walked. She walked without regret but with great fear, as if she couldn't think of a better reason to turn around and run away like the coward she thinks she is. The screaming stopped, only moans of torture and pain were on the other side.

With her intelligent mind gone, she reached out and pressed her hand against the door and opened it before her, revealing a dark and horrid sight before her. Her mouth open with shock, as her eyes swelled with fear as an imaginary scream came from her lips.

The room was filled with blood, corpse everywhere, corpses of her friends. Robin, the Boy Wonder, hung from the ceiling with a rusty butcher's hook with blood coming from his mouth as the limp body swung like a wind-chime.

Killer Croc stood near it, holding a mass of mashed up pink flesh in one hand and the headless corpse of Aqualad with the other, his head a bloody stump as blood squirted out. The beast chewing on something as he looked at her with apathy, a bloody eye hanging out his maw by the tendril.

Artemis was pressed against the wall, her back pressed against the wall as her limp legs laid on the floor. Her neck was slit open with a large amount of blood spilt from the wound, a vacant expression of her horror was constant as she looked down at her lower form, which was without pants for a sick and deranged reason.

And finally, Superboy, still alive at the moment as he reached out to Miss Martian in misery, tears in his eyes as blood spurted out his mouth as the Joker's knife slit his throat. Blood gushing out as the Joker sat behind him, grinning madly as he looked with a dark smile at Miss Martian, tenderly rubbing Superboy's chest.

"Welcome…to the Party," he giggled out, before losing control of himself and throwing her lover's body onto the floor, "NYAAAAHAHAAA! HAHAAA! HA HAAA!"

Miss Martian couldn't move, but stand there broken as she saw the Joker simply grin and laugh at her as he reached to the nearby table and grabbed a large kielbasa sausage, swinging it around before her.

"You…MONSTER!" she screamed out in agony, stepping towards him, "How could you! They did nothing to you! They were innocent people! WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO ME!"

Joker simply replied with slapping her with the sausage, sending her to the floor with tears in her eyes as the Joker grinned widely.

"Because…I'm the Joker, bitch. Smack. Ah ah ah ah!" mocked the Joker, who pressed his sausage against his lips, then opening his mouth and giving the tip a playful lick, "Aren't I good enough to eat?" He then slammed his teeth into the meat and ripped a large part of his sausage off, chewing it loudly as the inner fluids escaped his lips.

Miss Martian attempted to get up, only to be grabbed by the Joker by the arm and thrown back down. She only sobbed and shook her head, not accepting the reality of the situation.

"This…can't be real…It's not real, it's not real, it's not real," she repeated to herself in agony.

"It's as real as I want it to be, momma," giggled the Joker as he grabbed M'gann's hair, pulling it back and pressing his ruby lips against her lips. She groaned with misery, tasting the hint of the sausage and the taste of blood and smoke. As soon as he broke free, walking away, she began coughing and spitting at the floor. Disgusted to the point of nausea.

Joker reached into his pocket and pulled out a large pistol, twirling it around as he walked back to Miss Martian. With her in great fear, she watched with her kneeling body shaking in pure horror as he stood before her and pressed the end of it against her temple.

"I would loooove to be your first, darling," he chuckled with amusement, "But I do believe we must call it a day. Sorry pumpkin. It's my nature."

"Please…don't kill me…" she let out in fear, tears running down her face, "This…can't…be…real…"

"…It is," replied a calm smiling Joker, right before he pulled the trigger. The sound of gunfire was heard as the splatter of her blood touched Joker's face. Her dead body falling on its side next to her dead lover, both bleeding out with vacant dead faces.

Uncaringly, Joker sighed and stretched his limbs. "You know what, I'm hungry…let's get us some burgers. How 'bout that, honey? Good, first I gotta change my attire, blood all over my best suit!"

**GAME OVER**

* * *

**The Banana Slug: This is the final chapter…no, I mean it.**

**Everyone dies, the end…I'm serious. I'm dead serious. Don't believe me?**

**Don't look at me like it isn't, it is. I'm 100% sincere right now! I don't lie. I don't.**

**Trust me, when I say when a fanfic about psychological crap and mind-screws is over, it's over.**

**Good day, have a good life…goodbye. Have a good life. Yes, yes, I know the ending sucks but it's the end of the fanfic. Have a good life. Thank you, have a good life….**

…**Have a good life.**


	11. Do You Feel Blame? Are You Mad?

**The Banana Slug: …I lied.**

* * *

**Young Justice: Halls of Arkham**

**By The Banana Slug**

**CHAPTER 11: Do You Feel Blame? Are You Mad?**

* * *

**MOUNT JUSTICE**

**October 26, 3:56 PM**

Miss Martian awoke with a torrent of sweat, getting up to find herself back in the cave, on a metal slab…the same one from the test a week ago, the one where she lost control. She looked to see her teammates wake as well, dazed and tired, a few hateful glares pointed at her, including one from Superboy.

From the edge of the room, Martian Manhunter and Batman stood, staring at her with concern. They stood side by side as they began whispering to each other, Miss Martian shook her head with shock.

"What…happened?" she squeaked out.

"You did it again!" yelled an infuriated Artemis as she stomped at the telepath as she huddled away, "What is your problem? Is this some sort of joke? We were killed! Worse than before! And you screwed it up again!"

"But…but…" she whimpered out, shocked by the accusation, "I didn't…"

"You didn't know, yeah, same like last time!" berated a furious Robin, "What is the deal? What good are you if you can't even control that mind power of yours?"

"Miss Martian," said Aqualad as he walked to her, sternly glaring down at her as she looked at him with fear, "We can't let you be a part of this team anymore, you are too dangerous to keep. I'm sorry, but that is the simple truth."

"No…I'm sorry…" she let out with sorrow, "Please…don't do this to me…"

"You did this to yourself!" yelled Artemis as she slammed her hands on the slab before M'gann, "You don't seem to get it that we aren't like your race, we're not okay with the whole mind manipulation thing! It's creepy and it would be better if you just left us alone forever!"

"Artemis is right!" shouted Robin with anger, "You seem nice, but you **are **a total creep!"

"This is for the good of the team, M'gann," instructed Aqualad, "If you cared about us, you'd leave." Miss Martian looked at all of them with regret and sadness, then at Superboy, who didn't even bother going over to her and just looked away.

"Conner…please…" she whimpered out, sobbing with despair.

"Don't!" he shouted angrily, then sighing before he said, "I don't…think it's going to work…if you keep screwing with our minds like this…" M'gann felt something drop inside her, a stone…once he said that to her.

And then, the doors opened to reveal Red Tornado, Superman, and Black Canary walking out with Batman and Martian Manhunter leading them.

"Stand aside," ordered the Dark Knight to the Team, and they did so as Miss Martian frantically looked around.

"What? What's going on?" she breathed out in fear as the heroes began surrounding her.

"Miss Martian, this is the second time this incident has happened," explained Batman calmly, "We cannot handle your psychic powers causing unforeseen problems with the League and anyone associated with us. The fellow League members and I have come to an agreement, saying you must be escorted back to Mars for psychiatric help."

"What? No!" she let out as Black Canary and Red Tornado both pressed their hands on her shoulders, "I can control it! Please! Uncle J'onn! Tell them-"

"I…was the one who said you should return to Mars," revealed a shamed Martian Manhunter, "I am sorry, but I cannot deny the fact that you are uncontrollable. We will be forced to sedate you if you refuse to come quietly, M'gann."

"No! No! NO!" she screamed, kicking at Batman in the stomach as she began to thrash around. The superheroes quickly held her down as she struggled and screamed bloody murder, tears running down her eyes as she saw her uncle with a needle in his hand.

"J'onn! Please!" she begged, looking to her friends. They looked, but then glanced away when they saw her looking at them, her heart breaking even more. She tensed up at the feeling of a sharp needle puncturing her neck, causing her world to go black as she entered unconsciousness…

* * *

She awoke later as she was strapped to a medical bed, being pushed by both Batman and Martian Manhunter down a long clean hallway of white marble.

"J'onn…please…" she let out in tire, "Don't…do this…"

"It is too late, niece," he replied sadly, "But I know you will fight me all the way, so before I send you back home…I think psychiatric help on Earth may be best for you. Then perhaps, you may return to Earth if the Team says it is fine…however, it seems unlikely, seeing what you have done to them…"

"We have the best of the best looking at your situation. I promise that you will be given the best treatment in this facility," explained Batman calmly, then stopping and nodding to an unknown person behind her.

"Do you think you will be able to help her, Dr. Crane?" asked Martian Manhunter in a hopeful tone.

"She seems to be incredibly attached to this world," sighed Scarecrow as he walked around her and stood next to Batman and the Manhunter as he wrote down on a notepad, continuing with, "But this is a place of healing, I will do my best…I promise you…"

Miss Martian looked at Scarecrow with wide eyes, shaking her head as she tried to scream, but she found no words could come out. Batman and the Martian Manhunter nodded as they waved goodbye to M'gann as the Scarecrow wheeled her away.

"This…isn't…real…" she let out, breathing heavily, "This…isn't a simulation…I'M STILL IN ARKHAM!"

"Very observant," chuckled Scarecrow as the clean hallways of the asylum slid away and turned into the dirty filth-covered walls of Arkham, "I was quite shocked when Joker shot you in the head, angry even, enraged…I thought you were dead…but it turns out, you're quite alive. Interesting."

"My friends," she let out, breathing heavily once again, "Are my friends alive! Please tell me! My friends!"

"Quiet, whore," hissed Scarecrow, "You're friends are fine, the people you mistook for friends were just illusions…Joker said that you were quite shocked and it was obvious my toxin worked wonders on your fragile psyche. But please, tell me, do you really believe you can see the late Amadeus Arkham?"

When he asked this, Miss Martian looked to the left and saw said Arkham glaring at her from the passing-by hallway. She looked at Scarecrow and glared at him, her left eye twitching with hate.

"Therapy isn't time yet…ass-head!" she hissed at him.

Scarecrow laughed heartily at her statement, then sighing with amusement and advised whimsically, "Word to the wise, learn to cuss better."

All she could do was blush and look away, closing her eyes and thankful that this wasn't a simulation, her friends were not dead, and there will be no ill will for past doings.

* * *

**ARKHAM ASYLUM**

**October 26, 7:59 PM**

Artemis yelped as she was thrown on the floor, groaning as she got up to see Zsasz walking to her with a wide wicked smile. "Run, my little rabbit, I love to catch rabbits before I cut them…so fun."

Artemis got up and reached for her quiver, only to see that it was taken away, with Zsasz holding onto it along with her bow. "Not one of archery, mind you," rambled Zsasz amusingly, "You may ask why I don't just shoot you down with a gun, eh?"

"Get away," she growled as she backed away, holding her arms up at him as she glared one of death at him.

"Guns are too quick, dear," he hissed out, "You can never savor the kill with them, that is why I use knifes. In the glimmer of the blood covering the metal, you can see a person's true color…"

With a soft calm smile, he looked at her with loving eyes, then asked to her horror, "Would you like to see how cowardly you really are, Miss Artemis Crock?"

Suddenly, without warning, he screamed as he jumped at her like a wild animal. She shrieked as she was pinned down beneath him, holding her arms up as he growled and snarled. His knife waving around trying to cut her throat, only to slash her arms and cheek.

"GET! OFF!" she screamed, kicking him in the stomach and onto the floor as she got up and fled from the deranged beast. Zsasz growled in pain, clutching his stomach before letting out a deranged yell, running after Artemis in top speed.

Shock took her lungs as the deranged madman slammed into her and threw her on the floor, Zsasz pressing his body against hers as he brandished the knife around her face. Her wide eyes looked at the glimmering metal, dripping with blood as she felt Zsasz's breath touch her ear.

"Stop struggling," he hissed angrily, "If you do…then I'll decide you are more trouble than your worth…and kill you slower."

"Leave…me…alone…" she growled out, glaring with rage as Zsasz got up from her. He chuckled as he sent his foot on her back, holding her down as she clenched her fingers with great pain.

"I am appalled by how pathetic you are, Artemis," hissed Zsasz with amusement, "Always trying to act tough when you are so…weak. What good are you to your little associates? I watched you as I stalked you, like a wolf and his rabbit, seeing how pathetic you can be by putting on this visage that you are a real hero."

"I am…a real hero…" she groaned out, then yelled in pain when Zsasz stomped on her back.

"Don't you play me! Have you looked in a mirror?" he shouted, chuckling and pressing his blade against his bald head, "You are sooo imbued with the lie that you actually believe you matter to your friends. Please. The attitude, your distance, your aggressive remarks, and the fact you never let anyone in. Who could care for a little bitch such as yourself…I'd rather kill you than fuck you, really. That's how annoying you are to me."

"Shut…up…" she hissed with anger, tears swelling up in her hate-filled glare. Zsasz lifted down his eye-lid and showed off the red meat underneath to the world.

"I think I'll leave a mark there, the constant annoying pain it will bring will remind me of you, Artemis Crock," he mocked with a dark hiss, "Does that please you? To know you matter enough for me to be constantly annoyed by your memory in the temple? At least you'll be important now…important enough to-"

Artemis quickly flipped and kicked Zsasz in the knees as he was out of balance from Artemis' escape. He screamed in pain as he fell on the floor, with Artemis lunging at him like a wild animal.

As she was upon him, he held his knife with an insane bloodlust and stabbed her in the shoulder. Artemis didn't care about the pain, but she grabbed the hand that held the blade and with all her might, broke his wrist. He roared in pain before it was silenced by a strike to his face, and then another, and then another, and another and another and soon, Artemis was wailing in on Zsasz well even when his consciousness left him.

"Sick! Filthy! Animal!" she screamed in hate and rage, "Put down! You need to be put down! Sick! Degenerate! Ugly! Heartless! Fuck! Die! Just! Die! Die! DIE!" Her mind was blank, all she could do was constantly beat Zsasz's face to a bloody pulp. Eyes black, lips bruised, and blood creating a puddle around his face.

Finally, she stopped, seeing him beaten on the floor. Still alive, but barely. She panted as she knelt on top of him, blood covering her fists as she looked at him with tears. "I am not pathetic," she growled out, "I will…tell them why…when I damn right feel like it…so it means I'm not pathetic…I'm not pathetic…you are…you are the pathetic one, Zsasz…because I do have people who care about me…not like you…you deserve to rot in this hell…alone…defeated…and humiliated…"

Her body froze when she felt something cold in the back of her head, and a loud click from that which brings the feeling of cold steel to the back of her head.

"Any day I'd agree with ya," chuckled Black Mask as he pressed his gun against the back of Artemis' head, "But right now, I don't care. Come with me. The doctor will see you now…and if you refuse, I'll have to splatter your fucking brain matter across my good friend Zsasz' body…hell, I think he'd like that!"

As he laughs, Artemis just knelt there, motionless as she glared at Zsasz…satisfied this beast was forced to eat his own words. That was what she believed. That was what she proved.

* * *

Robin woke with in a torrent of sweat, beaten and bruised as he was handcuffed against a pipe in the wall. He looked around to see many different employees of Arkham Asylum, nurses and doctors, guards and janitors, and Jeremiah Arkham as he laid against the wall, hand-cuffed to a pipe as well.

"Arkham!" called out Robin. Jeremiah gave him half a look, then turning away.

"…Took your time, it seems," he breathed out, "Joker found Harleen and I…took her away…don't know how long we have. Thanks for the effort…though…"

Robin looked at another side of the room, seeing Two-Face sitting on a table, flipping his coin as he had a machine gun against his shoulder and gave Robin an intimidating glare. From his side was Aaron Cash, handcuffed with his face beaten to a bruise as he spat out a large drop of blood from his cracked lips.

"Aaron! What are you doing here?" called out Robin again, tugging against the handcuff.

"Do you ever shut up," growled Two-Face, cracking his neck after saying so.

Aaron looked over, and even though his face was massively abused by fists and feet, he was able to smile back at the boy. "Robin…hey," he replied weakly, trying to open his eyes a bit more, "…The Pyg…he led some Arkham Inmates in and…well, he had more guns…and me and a few others survived…they beat us up…but we're alive…for now."

Robin shook his head with hopelessness, he didn't know if Artemis was alive, he didn't know if Miss Martian was alive, he didn't know if he was alive.

"Two-Face…what are you going to do with the hostages?" questioned Robin.

"Haven't decided…" sighed Two-Face as he looked at his coin, "Once Scarecrow is done with your friends, Joker said I could do whatever I wanted with them…perhaps I'll use you for a bargain to get myself out if heads, or slaughter every one of you if tails."

"Harvey, cut the crap!" yelled Aaron Cash sternly, "Listen to yourself! You were once our hero attorney, a white knight, and look at you now! You used to be something, and now you aren't better than the rest of these animals!" As Aaron berated him, Two-Face was looking out the cracked window, looking at the full moon with a smile.

"The moon…is so beautiful," was all he sighed out.

"What?" yelled out a confused Aaron Cash.

"It's a big silver dollar, flipped by God," Two-Face rambled calmly to himself, "And it landed scarred up, see? And so…he made the world…"

Aaron Cash only sighed and shook his head. "There's no helping you freaks…" Robin looked at the moon, wondering one small part if what Two-Face is saying is true…that God made the horrible world we live in because it was horrible to begin with…and he had no choice but to follow his own rules.

* * *

The desert was endless, the white desert of salt and scorching suns. Two eyeballs in the sky covered in white flames as they rained waves of heat down on Aqualad, nearly dehydrated and lost in the light of salt.

He saw illusions of water as he continued to trek down the hateful world he was forced to live in against his will, keeping his mind in track as he continued to walk and walk and walk until he couldn't walk anymore.

With a tired pant, he gave up and fell on the sand, kneeling as he looked up at the sky with misery. He groans in hopelessness as he slams his fists into the sand, parting slightly as he did so.

"I…failed…" he groaned in pain, "We're all…dead…every one…of us…"

Suddenly, he was blinded by a quick flash of light, a rolling thunder heard afterwards. He looked to see someone walk to him down the desert to him, a tall muscular figure that stood like a god. It was Maximilian Zeus, whom Aqualad met before from the falling steps and the electric chair.

Aqualad hung his head down when Maximilian stood before him, glaring down at him with a god-like scowl. "Neptune…why do you falter?" inquired Zeus, "Why do you look so unwell? A god does not fall in such a way!"

"I…can't escape…can't escape," groaned Aqualad, "The desert…is everywhere…"

"There is no desert, child," stated Zeus with a stern voice, "These are ravings, it is all in your head."

"I know!" shouted Aqualad, then coughing loudly as he said, "I failed my mission…and endangered my fellow teammates, and now…we are all dead…and if we survive, we go insane with the rest of the inmates here…"

"You have failed **no** mission, Neptune!" commanded Zeus as he pointed down to Aqualad, "You see yourself a human…I see a god, a god who leads! If you are worried for this mission of yours, do not worry, you still live! You can still fight! You can still defeat those that stand in your way! For that is your purpose! To lead the meek and instill courage in your subjects, Child of Atlantis! That is your birthright!"

Aqualad looked up at Maxie Zeus, seeing the suns set behind him as walls began to erect around them slowly. "Why…do you say this?" he asked him with his voice shaking, "Why do you believe in me?"

"…That question is rhetorical, Child of Atlantis," he replied with a booming voice, "But to be more precise…I can see the leadership in your eyes…you are a grand leader, even if you doubt it. The Gods were born to lead…and so were you."

The sands were swept away, revealing the linoleum floor underneath his knees as the walls came closing in, the ceiling descending slowly over the walls as he found himself back in the asylum. The desert was gone, the heat was gone, and it was only Maxie Zeus and Aqualad now.

Aqualad looked up at Maxie, who looked down at him before he turned with a nod and left the hero alone.

Suddenly, the sounds of clapping was heard as a tap of footsteps accompanied it. Behind Aqualad was the Joker, along with a squadron of insane gun-wielding maniacs, the Joker clapping mockingly slow as he got closer and closer to Kaldur.

"How heartfelt!" he giggled amusingly, "But…it is time to pay the piper, you understand? It is time for therapy. The Scarecrow wishes to end this…by giving you **one last check-up**! Nyaha ha haaha!"

Aqualad replied by getting up slowly, standing there as the Joker and his men walked to him slowly. He sighed and turned around, staring at the Joker with a dark glare. Without a hint of fear, he smirked and nodded his head.

"Fine…" was all he replied with.

* * *

**ARKHAM ASYLUM**

**October 26, 8:08 PM**

The victimized Miss Martian kept her eyes closed as she was wheeled down the hallway by the victimizing Scarecrow, walking with a skip to his beat as they crossed the streamers and the balloons left by the Joker. It was if it were some horrid wonderland.

"In the spring-time…the only pretty ring time…birds sing, hey ding," sang Scarecrow with a slight unnervingly happy tone, "A-ding a-ding, sweet lover's love…the spring-"

"Scarecrow…" interrupted Miss Martian, "Why me? …Why go all this trouble to torture me the most?"

"Simple, you caused the simulation to go wrong," explained the Scarecrow, "You are the most damaged by the experience because you caused it, much like a drunk driver taking out a small child and instantly regretting it as he is sent to an establishment such as this. All we are going to do is review what I have seen from all of you…"

"And then…will you let us go?" asked Miss Martian with a slight glimmer of hope, yet a massive amount of self-doubt.

"Oh no," chuckled the Scarecrow, "I'm going to kill you, simple as that."

"Simple?" she growled out with hate, "Is life so meaningless to you?"

"I don't know, maybe you should kill me and find out," said Scarecrow with the tilt of a head. He then stopped when he felt a cool air against his open wrist, looking around slowly as Miss Martian did the same.

"A little nonsense now is relished by the wisest man…" he hissed out to himself, then looking down at Miss Martian as he began wheeling her away again, "This place is haunted…by the spirit of one madman…the one who built this place…Amadeus Arkham…"

"I…know…" admitted Miss Martian with a hint of the hopeless, looking away as she kept her gaze away from him.

"They say he met this patient, in Metropolis, his name…Mad Dog Hawkins I believed," instructed Scarecrow like a teacher, "A patient known to destroy the genitals of women after raping and killing them…was slightly inspected by the doctor, then going home to care for his wife and daughter…"

The sounds of laughter and screams that once were prevalent in this hospital began to slowly go down as they moved down the halls, with Scarecrow continuing his speech. "One day…after coming home…he found the raped corpses of his wife and young daughter, the child's head found in her dollhouse. It has been said Arkham took his revenge against the murderer, Mad Dog Hawkins, by electrocuting him to death. Shock therapy. Apparently much different than it is today."

"Sad…" was all she could reply with, feeling incredibly tired as she shook her head slightly.

"He was locked in his own asylum after the grips of insanity finally took hold," he continued with interest in his own words, "He wrote an enchantment in his own cell to keep something out. Some say they are found everywhere within the walls of the asylum. Anyway, he died…after he finished it all. Some say the enchantment didn't work…and we are the demons who haunt the asylum."

"Sounds…like it," she breathed out, keeping her eyes open as she shook her head again.

"I wouldn't fall asleep in a place like this, I might get careless and leave you with the serial rapists while you rest," teased the Scarecrow, she shook her head vigorously to keep awake, much to Scarecrow's amusement.

He finally stopped in front of a pair of doors, sighing loudly and pleasantly as he looked down at Miss Martian's restrained form. "Miss Martian…it is time to assess what we have learned…and to end this charade. For real this time…"

* * *

**The Banana Slug: BWAAAAHAHAHAHAAAHAHAAAA!**

**I'm sorry, some of the responses I've gotten were killer. I have to apologize if I trolled you, but it was expected, puh-leeze.**

**I hope none of you didn't really think the last chapter was really THE LAST CHAPTER. To be frank, I was worried some may de-favorite this story because of my little troll incident.**

**But, let bygones be bygones, you got two more chapters till the end.**


	12. The Glass Elevator

**The Banana Slug: From now on, when I say the end is the end, I will mean it. No more lying to you guys. I just wanted to fuck with you on chapter ten.**

**It made me laugh, but I have had my laugh, so we can continue with this story, 'kay?**

**But I must also state this one will be a doozy, this is the climax of the story, where the shit gets real.**

**This is…**

* * *

**Young Justice: Halls of Arkham**

**By The Banana Slug**

**CHAPTER 12: The Glass Elevator**

* * *

**ARKHAM ISLAND**

**October 26, 8:09 PM**

Lights from the helicopters shined against the broken walls of Arkham Asylum's skin, SWAT officers patrolling the misty grounds looking straight at the horrid windows as they avoided the cliffs down to the cold waters of oblivion, black waves splashing and splashing and splashing.

J'onn the Martian Manhunter stood before the main door, staring at this old house filled with blood-thirsty parasites tearing it apart from inside. The parasites called it home.

"This is insane," groaned a distressed Black Canary, pacing back and forth with the other heroes and Comissioner Gordon standing behind Martian Manhunter, "Are we seriously going to wait here while Scarecrow does God knows what to those children?"

"Canary, I know how you feel," consoled Green Arrow as he stepped to her, putting his hands on her shoulder, "I'm worried too, but we burst in there we risk the lives of those hostages."

"Then what do we do?" questioned Canary, shaking her head and sighing lightly, Green Arrow couldn't answer. He sighed as well and pulled her closer to him, holding her as she did the same, both worried for the lives of those they care about.

"Aquaman, are you positive you can't enter through the sewers?" asked Superman.

Aquaman released a breath on uncertainty. "I am sure, Scarecrow would be smart enough to release Killer Croc to guard them. It might be hard, but I could take him…but then, I would risk getting caught by Scarecrow's sight and the hostages would be done for. Counting the fear toxin in the air, it would be too risky."

"We'll need the rest of the League for this," stated Batman with an almost non-existent hint of worry, "I want all hands on deck, we **will** get the Team out and we **will** take down the Scarecrow or die trying. Zatara should be able to-"

"Batman…it's alright," breathed out Martian Manhunter all of a sudden. The League turned to him, looking at him as he stood with his back turn. J'onn then turned around, giving them all a soft smirk and saying, "Everything is alright…"

* * *

**ARKHAM ASYLUM**

**October 26, 8:14**

In the cool air of the Asylum halls, Joker escorted Aqualad with a gun pointing directly at the back of his head. The mad clown skipping his feet as Aqualad walked, staring intently at the doors leading to the Group Therapy room.

From another hallway came Artemis and Black Mask, who was also holding a gun in case she tried to escape. She glanced over to Aqualad as the two walked together, she let out a weak laugh and said, "Some mission, huh?"

"Right," was all that Aqualad could repeat with…and the two were silent as the Joker ran up and kicked the two doors open.

In the room was five chairs lined up in a circle, three were occupied. One was occupied by Miss Martian, who was restrained by leather straps on her wrists and ankles, staring at them with a blank expression. Another by Superboy, who was dazed as he was heavily sedated and straps covering most of his body, wearing a bite mask as he groaned and shook his head. And finally, on the middle chair at the top of the circle, was Scarecrow, holding his scythe as he looked at the two young heroes.

"Well, well, well, you look…well," mocked Scarecrow as he got up, then ordering Black Mask and Joker, "Strap them down…I don't want them to try **anything**."

"Move," ordered Black Mask as he shoved Artemis' shoulder, she gave him a glare as she took a seat, the Black Mask quickly putting the straps on her wrists and ankles. He stopped once to glance at her chest, then finishing up as he stood next to her.

"Don't worry, lover-boy," chuckled the Joker pleasantly as he strapped Aqualad down, "Scarecrow will be gentle as a lamb at first." He got up and laughed as Aqualad didn't even bother to respond, just sitting there and staring at the Scarecrow.

"You two may go to your posts," ordered the Scarecrow as he waved his scythe, "As soon as I'm done with them, I will give them to the inmates to play with."

"Oui oui!" mockingly acknowledge the Joker, with Black Mask looking over at the Joker as he did the same, both nodding to each other slightly as they walked away, closing the door behind them.

The Team was left alone with the Scarecrow, who stood in the middle of the circle of chairs as he looked around at the Team, forced to sit there as he would probe their minds one final time.

"So…here we are…" he hummed out, "The therapy session I wanted to do…ever since I saw that silly little simulation video of all of you dying like cockroaches. Meaningless cockroaches. I wanted to prove how insignificant you truly are…oh how I wish Kid Flash was here to suffer the truth about himself-"

"Hell!" screamed out Superboy, then groaning out again in agony, "Papa…papa, who are you? Dad…who…"

"What did you do to him?" interrogated a distressed Miss Martian, "He's worse than the rest of us!"

"Oh, yes," sighed the Scarecrow with fake shame, "His Kryptonian DNA was a bit more immune to the fear toxin in air form, so I had to inject the liquid state of my toxin into his bloodstream. Three times I believe."

Miss Martian turned her attention to Superboy, watching him groan in agony as he was sedated, forced in his own Hell without movement. She bit her lip with fear as Scarecrow continued to talk.

"And now, the ultimate judgment…to explain to you the fears you are truly hiding," he announced with gusto, "Ones you refused Black Canary to know!"

He quickly pointed to Artemis, stating loudly, "Artemis! You! Are afraid of the truth! Yes! The truth." He stepped behind her as she let her head hang low, the Scarecrow continuing his rant, "The truth of the matter is that you know a dark and hideous truth, a truth that could destroy this team and yourself with five words. The truth is…that you do not matter."

Artemis closed her eyes, hiding herself as Scarecrow knelt beside her. "You were swiftly murdered by that saucer. And yet, they were able to accomplish so much without you. Rallying the world, destroying one mothership, and able to die much more gracefully than before. And so, it says one thing. You are expendable. And when Speedy or Red Arrow or whatever the hell he is calling himself learns he is not the center of the universe and comes back…you are worthless to the Team…am I close to the truth or not, dear?"

Artemis didn't answer, all she did was bite her lip and turn away. Scarecrow clapping his hands, then pointing his finger at the heavily-drugged Superboy.

"You! Boy! You are afraid of being forgotten!" he shouted, the booming voice causing Superboy to hyperventilate, "You **want** to be Superman! You **want** to be well-known like him! To be a celebrity! To be a God! And why? One reason: You resent him!"

He got closer to him as Superboy tried to struggle, shaking his head and moaning with fear. "You carry his blood. You share his DNA. He is your father…and yet, he hates you. And so, you hate him. Ergo, you want to be him. Vis-à-vis, you want to be better than him. Concordantly, you want to be admired and loved. That is why the images of his symbol harms you in such a way…because you resent him…for resenting you…"

"Guh! No! Goblin! Ugh!" groaned an angry Superboy, struggling against his straps as he foams in the mouth in fury. Scarecrow pulls out another needle and injects a sedative into his neck. Conner Kent growls in pain and soon his breath begins to slow, slowly bobbing his head around in misery.

"How do you know all this?" growled an infuriated Miss Martian.

"That…is not part of the therapy," answered Scarecrow, then walking over to Aqualad, his finger pointing at him. Then his finger goes up in the sky and Scarecrow then says, "Since I was so bemoaned that your friend wasn't here…I have to say…You! Kid Flash!" he shouted with a sigh, "Are afraid of fear! Mind you, this speech is worthless now since he did not show…but I rehearsed it so well…Kid Flash, your denial says too much, even what you are trying to hide. Seeing your friends dying was so sad for you that it hurt your ever-present pride…killing you in such a way that you hate it more than your growing xenophobia when poor Artemis died in your eyes. You sycophantic fuck!"

Scarecrow sighed and fell on his chair, breathing out in relief. "A shame that he wasn't here…then that rant wouldn't be so pointless," groaned Scarecrow as if he lost a competition.

"Why isn't Robin here?" interrogated a spiteful Artemis, "I'm sure he would like to get bullied like the rest of us."

"Because I already got what I needed from him!" yelled an excited Scarecrow, getting up and getting up-front and confrontational with Artemis, "Would you like to hear my diagnosis of Robin? Here it is! YOU! SUCK! You want to be Batman because you want to take his place as a guardian! To avenge the weak and defeat the cowardly lot that includes Joker, Black Mask, Professor Pyg, and the whole fuckin' city! We get it! You admire Batman so much that you want to take his place to carry on the good work! End of story! Got what I needed! You are the future Batman! Edadadadada!"

He sighed again and reached out from a nearby table, grabbing a water bottle and pulling the mask from his face, resting his scythe near the barred window before him. He lifted his head up and drank the water in great quantities, and then splashing some on his face and shaking his head like a dog.

Crane groaned with tire as he walked back over, sitting on his chair as he looked at his mask in his hand. "Aqualad…you…" he said, pointing at him as he held the water bottle, "Are afraid of your own abilities. Abilities as a leader. What you did…back at the…Hall of Justice, I think. It was majestic. It was heroic. And it was the right thing to do…the problem with you is that you think it was worthless, because the scenario was worthless. Saying to yourself that you acted on impulse as a soldier. A hero and a leader willingly sacrifices himself to better the team…you are just sad because it was such a meaningless loss that you find yourself meaningless."

"I think you're wrong," growled out Aqualad, staring at him with a dark glare.

"I think I'm right," stated Crane calmly, then throwing his water bottle at Aqualad. The bottle hit him directly on the forehead, water splashing on him as the bottle landed on his lap.

"Leave him alone," ordered Miss Martian, staring at him with hate.

"Oh no, I'm done with him," chuckled Crane as he put his mask back on his head, "It is time to show how pathetic **you** are, Miss Martian."

Scarecrow walked over to Miss Martian, pointing his finger at her as she looked away. "Miss Martian! You! Are afraid of yourself! You caused the simulation to turn into something beautiful! A world of terror and horror. Putting your dear friends in Hell subconsciously! Genius. But it scares you. Of what you really are! A freak! A monster! A walking abortion that needs to be lobotomized for everyone's own good will!"

"Stop it!" cried out Miss Martian.

"NO! NO!" roared Scarecrow, pressing his hand against her throat to force her to look at him, her tear-filled eyes forced to look at the red orbs of his sight, "You fear yourself! Who knows what you really are! And so, you act all cute, cuddly, and pretend the world is a vivid rainbow when it really is just black and various shades of grey. I don't know if Mars is like that, but in Earth, blood, murder, rape, incest, bestiality, racism, bigotry, and every known sin fueled by fear runs this horrid world of ours. Hello Megan! Get with the program!"

He backed away, leaving her head hanging low as she rocked herself before him. "Even your uncle knew you were out of control…which was why he had to kill you…to save everyone from you…in the end, I am right…you are a monster…"

Scarecrow was given no response, he stood there in the middle as he looked around, seeing all the Team sitting there. He laughs with victory, spreading his arms up with enlightenment.

"Do you see know?" he sighed out, then explaining with his usual hiss, "Do you see how fear dictates your life? You are slaves to its whim. Worthless slugs on the face of the Earth! And I will show you Hell! I will bring you-"

He was interrupted by a slight chuckle from Aqualad, shaking his head with amusement as Scarecrow looked over to the Atlantean.

"Do you…have something to say?" he hissed out with little care, "What is so funny that you'd like to…share with the rest of the group?"

"I apologize," admitted Aqualad with a smirk, "It's just that you look so foolish right now. You picked apart our fears…is that it? Please, kill us…don't ramble on how much in love you are with fear. It just seems so pathetic how you are so happy about scaring us, it almost seems…cartoonish."

Scarecrow kept his gaze at Aqualad, even when Artemis let out a amused laugh. "It does seem ridiculous. How you want to dress up and pretend it's Halloween every day…"

The Scarecrow growled as he walked past Artemis and Miss Martian, grabbing his scythe and stomping to Aqualad, who just smirked as Scarecrow got closer and closer. He pressed the side of the blade near Aqualad's throat, Scarecrow hissing with hate. "Killing you…will be as sweet as pie…"

And all of a sudden, the intercom turned on, with a voice calling out, "I think I have seen enough, don't you Robin…This therapy session is over Scarecrow…put the scythe down…"

Scarecrow stood dumbfounded, looking at a nearby camera as he let out a shocked and confused realization.

"…Arkham?"

* * *

"Yes, it is I, Jeremiah Arkham, owner of Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane," he announced with snark from the intercom, sitting in his office with amusement, holding the microphone as he lounged in his chair.

"…How?" let out Scarecrow, standing in the circle of chairs with his arms like spaghetti, "How did you…"

"I…told Robin," stated Aqualad proudly, then leaning his head back and saying, "And you said I was afraid of my own abilities. Even the best psychologist can make the wrong diagnosis…you're no better."

"But…how?" he growled out, shaking his head as he stared at Aqualad.

"I was able to use my telepathic mind-link for a short while," explained Miss Martian with a calm smile, "I got a hold of Aqualad…and he told me…of a simple yet brilliant plan."

"Thank the God Zeus for the help," added Aqualad with a tilt of his head, then explaining more with, "While Joker was apprehending me, I was able to tell Artemis, Miss Martian, and Robin of my plan. And since we had an unlikely chance at winning to start, I thought what many of you people say: What the hell."

"Robin?" let out a flabbergasted Scarecrow.

"Right here!" called out Robin from the intercom, who was slouching next to Arkham as he held the microphone close and looking at Scarecrow through the monitor, "Wow! You look good on TV, Scarecrow! I think you could be the next Dr. Phil!"

"**HOW**!" roared an enraged Scarecrow, "How did you get past Two-Face?"

"By a flip of a coin," stated Robin proudly, "Mind you, it was a million to one chance, or really, two to one…"

* * *

**ARKHAM ASYLUM**

**October 26, 8:01 PM**

Robin stood there handcuffed, standing there as he scowled at the floor. There was no way out, with Two-Face their judge, jury, and executioner.

Just given the plan to rescue everyone in the asylum, he needed to find a way out of this situation. He glanced over at Two-Face, flipping his coin with a sigh, and then, it hit him. He knew how to get himself and the others out of here…but it was going to be tricky.

"Two-Face!" yelled Robin, "Hey! Harvey! I wanna negotiate!"

"Shut up, you dumb brat," growled Two-Face in annoyance.

"Listen, these people did nothing wrong!" he shouted, "But if you are so anxious to waste us, then how 'bout we flip on it!"

"What the hell are you thinking!" growled an annoyed Jeremiah.

"Heads, you let us all go," explained Robin calmly, "Tails…you can kill us all."

Two-Face chuckled as he playfully flipped his coin, grinning at the Boy Wonder. "And why should I take that offer?"

"Because…I know you Harvey…" said Robin calmly, "Even though, you say you see the world black and white, that's only Two-Face's opinion. Big Bad Harv's opinion. Harvey Dent knew what was right and wrong…without flipping a coin. These are innocent people, people you were proud to defend. Don't tell me you won't defend them now…"

Two-Face was lost in the boy's words, frowning deeply as he brow shook. He looked down, then at his coin, rubbing it between his fingers. "…Alright…" he breathed out, "…I'm a gambler…I'll take it…"

And with that last statement, he flipped the coin in the air as the hostages looked at the glimmering light. As soon as it got up, it went down, falling with a twirl as Two-Face reached out for it. His hand grabbed it to slam it down on the table, averting from everyone's sight.

Everyone watched him as he looked down on his coin, not saying a single word. He turned his head, looking at the concerned faces. Two nurses huddled up against each other with tears in there eyes. A security guard holding his wounded buddy, whispering to him about hope of escape. And finally, Aaron Cash, who looked at Harvey with eyes that already knew the answer to Two-Face's verdict.

Two-Face sighed with a feeling inside his gut that gnawed at his heart, before revealing, without regret. "…Heads." The sound of relieved breaths and hopeful laughs were heard as Two-Face reached down and uncuffed Aaron Cash, who got up in a bolt and nodded to Two-Face. Harvey handed out the keys, Aaron grabbing them and rushing to Arkham and Robin.

"So, what now?" questioned a concerned Arkham as Aaron released the lock to his arms, Jeremiah groaning and holding his sore wrists.

"We get to your office," explained Robin, "We turn the air conditioner on and pump it full of the antidote. Hopefully Scarecrow's dumb enough to leave it there."

"What if we run into more of those psychos?" asked Aaron as he rushed over and released Robin from the cuffs.

"Hey!" shouted out Two-Face as Robin was released, getting everyone's attention with the call. Two-Face grabbed his semi-automatic and threw it over at Cash, the head of security grabbing it with ease. Two-Face shrugged and said, "Should help."

Aaron smiled at Two-Face, nodding with agreement as he lead the hostages out of the room. Arkham followed the hostages as Robin watched them leave, feeling a mass amount of pride in himself.

As he was about to leave, Two-Face called out to him. Robin stopped and stared over at Harvey Two-Face, who stood there like a statue.

"Robin…" he said with a hint of regret, "Batman…would be proud." Robin nodded with agreement, smiling before he ran after group, leaving Two-Face with himself.

* * *

**ARKHAM ASYLUM**

**October 26, 8:15 PM**

Scarecrow shook his head with disbelief, stepping back as he growled angrily. Robin chuckled and said with a bit of wonder, "Funny thing is…no one was in the halls to the office."

"Impossible…Joker was suppose to…" grumbled Scarecrow, then growling with fury as he pulled out a handheld receiver and began speaking with a shaky and enraged tone, "Joker! Black Mask! Where the hell are you! We have a problem!"

"Oh, well, you're gonna have to handle that yourself, sport!" giggled the Joker from the other-side.

"What the hell are you talking about?" interrogated a frustrated Scarecrow.

"Weeeell, me and Black Mask are gonna R-U-N-N-O-F-T!" answered Joker calmly, "He has some men over at one of the helipads on the roof disguised as some SWAT dudes and well…I'm sure you can handle everything yourself."

"No! We have a breach! Arkham is in the office!" yelled Scarecrow angrily, "He'll ruin everything."

"Stop exaggerating, honey!" chuckled the Joker, "It's not the end of the world. Now be a good sport and get arrested. Goodbye, have a good life. NYAHAHAAA HAAAAHAAA!"

Scarecrow shook with fury, then roaring with pure rage as he slammed the receiver onto the floor, cracking it in large broken pieces.

"Ooooh! Sorry 'bout that Scarecrow!" laughed Robin, "But you knew what you were getting yourself into by joining with the Joker. Plus Black Mask? Dude, that guy has a bigger reputation of screwing people over than the Joker!"

"No!" growled Scarecrow with hate, "I will not let you defeat me! I am god here! Fear is my weapon, and you are-"

"Cured," stated Aqualad, causing Scarecrow to spin around with shock. Miss Martian smiled as she saw Scarecrow's reaction.

"Yes, with Arkham controlling the office, he'll be able to send your precious cure through the ventilation system," stated Miss Martian calmly.

"Not your smartest thing to do by leaving that cure in the office," mocked Robin proudly.

"Fools! I still have the upper-hand!" ranted a rage-drunk Scarecrow, holding his scythe into the air, "I still have inmates loyal to me! Professor Pyg will be able to send some of my men over and tear you limb from limb! And your pathetic friends will die by my hand! If I'm going down, your worthless friends will to, and Kid Flash will be the one to mourn you all!"

"...Oh, Scarecrow…" sighed Arkham from the intercom, shaking his head with a palm on his forehead, "You mistake me as clichéd as the fellow inmates here…I was able to send the antidote into the air system and call for help I think about…eight or twelve minutes ago."

Scarecrow once again was stumped, if you could see his face, it was open like a cave. "…Excuse me?"

* * *

**ARKHAM ISLAND**

**October 26, 8:09 PM**

"This is insane," groaned a distressed Black Canary, pacing back and forth with the other heroes and Comissioner Gordon standing behind Martian Manhunter, "Are we seriously going to wait here while Scarecrow does God knows what to those children?"

"Canary, I know how you feel," consoled Green Arrow as he stepped to her, putting his hands on her shoulder, "I'm worried too, but we burst in there we risk the lives of those hostages."

"Then what do we do?" questioned Canary, shaking her head and sighing lightly, Green Arrow couldn't answer. He sighed as well and pulled her closer to him, holding her as she did the same, both worried for the lives of those they care about.

"_Uncle J'onn! Uncle J'onn!_" cried out the voice of Miss Martian.

"_M'gann? Is that you?_" he replied telepathically, closing his eyes, "_Quickly! Tell me the situation! I-_"

"_Uncle J'onn! The fear toxin is gone! It's out of the halls! We did it!_" she interrupted quickly, "_We got the hostages out safely! But Scarecrow's about to finish us off! Hurry!_"

"We'll need the rest of the League for this," stated Batman with an almost non-existent hint of worry, "I want all hands on deck, we **will** get the Team out and we **will** take down the Scarecrow or die trying. Zatara should be able to-"

"Batman…it's alright," breathed out Martian Manhunter all of a sudden. The League turned to him, looking at him as he stood with his back turn. J'onn then turned around, giving them all a soft smirk and saying, "Everything is alright…"

* * *

**ARKHAM ASYLUM**

**October 26, 8:15 PM**

Scarecrow was frozen with shock, realizing the time he felt the cold air against his wrist when he pushed Miss Martian down the hallway. It was the air conditioning, blowing at top speed to release the antidote out. He shook his head with anger, angry at himself at the lack of focus.

"No…no…I can't…lose…" he hissed out, grabbing his head, "I will not lose! Not this time! I am the Scarecrow! Messiah of Fear! I will kill you all! I WILL KILL YOU ALL!"

Suddenly, the door was punched down by Batman, glaring over at the Scarecrow. The mad doctor hissed as he reached into his coat and pulled out what looked to be a white glass ball with a black skull painted on its side. The Scarecrow reached back and threw the ball out at the Dark Knight, who was accompanied with Martian Manhunter and Black Canary.

"Look out!" shouted Batman, with the ball breaking on the floor and releasing a pale-yellow cloud of fear toxin. Black Canary screamed loudly, the toxin blowing away and into the vents as the Scarecrow ran to the window.

Martian Manhunter ran over to his niece, quickly undoing the straps as the Scarecrow rushed at the barred window, crashing through it with the bars falling down several stories with him. Scarecrow growled with pain as he got up and ran to the graveyard.

As soon as she was freed, she got up from the chair and ran to the window after Scarecrow. "M'gann! No!" shouted Martian Manhunter, with M'gann already jumping from the window and landing on the broken glass, seeing Scarecrow run into the mist…which covered the graveyard like a shroud.

* * *

She ran into the graveyard, looking around with sweat covering her face as she looked around. Her eyes green as she scanned for the Scarecrow, feeling him over at a nearby gravestone, who was panting loudly and heaving his body in pain.

M'gann growled with anger as she ran over to his location, panting with every fleet of the step. She ran over and only found…nothing. Scarecrow was nowhere to be found in her sight.

A shriek like a banshee was heard when she looked up and saw Scarecrow leap on her, she screamed back in fear and pain as Scarecrow jammed his scythe into her shoulder. He swiftly pulled it out only to smack her in the face with the wooden part of his weapon.

"You think you're better than me? Just because you can read and manipulate minds, Miss Martian?" hissed Scarecrow in tire, he walked over to a nearby grave and began panting with amusement, "No…I can manipulate a mind much more easily than you…and I don't need any stupid psychic trick to do it…"

"How…did you know…about the simulation?" groaned out Miss Martian, "Who told you? The…mole?"

"Hush, Martian," he hissed out, grabbing his scythe with both hands as he walked over to her. She looked to her right, seeing a large piece of gravestone with a jagged edge next to her. She glanced back at Scarecrow, holding his scythe up with his red eyes glaring at her body.

"Die! Bitch!" he hissed with pure hatred.

In instinct, her mind forced the gravestone to fly up and hit at Scarecrow's forehead, the jagged piece jabbing out. As the rock fell down onto the ground next to his feet, so did the scythe behind the Scarecrow. Silence was all that came out of his lips, as a large red spot appeared over his forehead that grew larger and went down.

With his hands gripping his mark, he screamed in pain, stumbling back and tripping on his scythe, falling down as Miss Martian got up and lunged at the Scarecrow, screaming with pure hatred and anger.

Pinning him down, fist by fist began pounding into the Master of Fear's face as she was lost in bloodlust and anger, wanting to hurt him so bad that it went against her own morals.

"You! Monster! Filthy! Degenerate!" she screamed angrily with every bloody fist hitting his face, "Crook! Inhuman! Monster! I! HATE! YOU!" The last fist hit his cheek, she stopped and began to breath so loud. Her eyes wide and running tears from them as they twitched. With a grunt, she reached out and pulled the mask off his face.

Crane groaned in pain, his forehead cut and dripping blood. His eyes black and abused, his cheeks looked sunken in, and he was spitting out blood and teeth.

Miss Martian grabbed the rock she hit him with before, her hand shaking as she was going to regret what she was about to do, she wanted to kill the Scarecrow. She needed to kill the Scarecrow. She would love to kill the Scarecrow.

Her lungs releasing an angry scream, slamming the rock down hard as the sound of mush was heard. And so, she knelt over his body, looking at his head after what she did…she slammed the rock on the mud, next to his face as he was unconscious before her.

She slowly got up, standing over the Scarecrow as he laid in defeat. Hearing a sigh of disappointment, she looked to see Amadeus Arkham, standing near his grave with a shake of his head.

"Child, you must complete the transition," he groaned with urgency.

"…Leave me alone," was all she could reply with.

"This animal! This thing must be put down! He will do it again! You know that!" urged Amadeus as he stepped forward, looking down at the Scarecrow. He breathed out with shame and said with a heavy voice, "I thought he could continue my work…I was wrong. He was selfish, drunk with the evils of the world. Why do you think I chose you?"

"What are you talking about?" interrogated an annoyed M'gann, clenching her fists and glaring at the specter.

"You…have such a gift, M'gann," he sighed lovingly, walking to her, "You have the power of Maria…to cure them…remove their evil from their bodies and leave them newborn…to restart their life once again. Oh, you remind me of my dear Harriet. So young, so intelligent, so beautiful. You can be the savior of Arkham, and defend this good place against that which took my mother…the Bat…the Demon…take my place, M'gann…you can save this city from the flame. Even now, the Demon of Silence walks among you, manipulating you…make the stand here and complete my work!"

"No," she answered simply, causing Amadeus to step back in shock. She explained as she stepped forward, making every word clear, "I am M'gann. I am Megan. And I am Miss Martian. I am not your puppet. I am not going to continue your insane work and I will not use my powers to do your bidding. Find someone else to harm people, I will not help you. Ever!"

Amadeus stood there, disappointed as he shook his head. "Very well, it seems that you have…made up your mind…and so, perhaps my original successor was the right choice to begin with…"

Amadeus looked to his right, causing Miss Martian to do the same. From the mist, Jeremiah Arkham walked over to her calmly, tilting his head when he spotted her. He turned his head and shouted out, "I…I found her..."

From the mist stepped out Martian Manhunter, who started to breath heavily and tear up at the sight of Miss Martian. She did the same, but letting out a soft and tired, "…J'onn!"

"M'gann! Oh, M'gann!" he groaned with relief, running to her as she ran to him. She grabbed a hold of him and began crying into his chest.

"Oh Uncle J'onn! I was so scared! I was so scared!" she cried out, sobbing into his chest as he cried over her head, holding her close to him.

"I know…so was I, M'gann," he breathe out, his tears running down his cheeks, "So was I…"

* * *

**The Banana Slug: The Reign of the Scarecrow is over!**

**But wait!**

**What about Joker and Black Mask?**

**What happened to Harleen Quinzel?**

**What about the other teammates?**

**Will Wally West get another chapter in this fanfic?**

**Stay tuned! Same Bat-Fanfic! Same Bat-Fansite!**


	13. Eyes of a Dreamer

**The Banana Slug: Writing this fanfic was fun as hell, I had a blast making this whole thing from Chapter 1 to Chapter now. I wonder if this fanfic will be recommended in TV Tropes? Meh.**

**And yet, all good things must come to an end. This is the final chapter, for real this time. No fakesies.**

**Anyway, thanks for the nice words during this journey into a fanfiction, and so this will be the first time I end a multi-chapter story. Feels good.**

**I hope you enjoyed the ride, because it's time to die.**

* * *

**Young Justice: Halls of Arkham**

**By The Banana Slug**

**CHAPTER 13: Eyes of a Dreamer**

* * *

**ARKHAM ASYLUM**

**October 26, 8:25 PM**

The ceiling of the Asylum, with the night sky overlooking with the moon as its eye and the clouds as its lids, was covered with men in SWAT uniforms. AK-47s in their hands as they patrolled around the helipad, with an Arkham Asylum Helicopter resting comfortably on its bed. The men looked like real officers to even a trained eye, but under those black helmets were savage battle scars, horrifying tattoos, and rotten teeth. Members of the dreaded False Face Society.

The doors of the nearby roof entrance swung open like from a gust, revealing an exhausted and stressed Black Mask, with his men quickly running to him as the crime boss ran to the helicopter.

"Just you, boss?" asked one as he ran to the cockpit, opening the door and starting the helicopter up.

"No, we got some pals to drop off!" he yelled back as he stood in front of the helicopter door, the sound of the blades rotating wildly above him. And so, the doors swung open again to reveal the Mad Hatter running out of the door with sweat and worry. Jervis held a green briefcase filled with clothes, a sleeve or two hanging out, Scurrying over to the helicopter as he adjusted his collar, he jumped in and took a deep breath as he sat on one of the many chairs.

After him, Joker poked his demented grinning face from the door playfully, looking around with child-like wonder as he walked out calmly, dragging out the young Harleen Quinzel by the hand. She was looking around curiously as the spite-inducing Joker tugged her along like a parent to a bratty child, strolling over to the Black Mask with no care in the world.

"We have ourselves an uninvited guest," said Joker with a large grin, a slight giggle coming out, "The Bat is here with his Super Friends."

"Damn!" growled Black Mask, looking around and then at Joker, yelling, "**What do we do**?"

"Don't you worry, I have an angle," sighed a calm Joker, looking over at Harleen Quinzel suggestively, who blushed at the sight of his green eyes staring at her blues.

With the swinging of doors, the Calendar Man strolled out calmly with his briefcase, wearing his fedora and longcoat. He looked as if going on an airplane as he jumped into the helicopter and sat down next to Mad Hatter, a wide grin on his face.

As Black Mask climbed into the cockpit, sitting next to the pilot, the doors swung open one more time to reveal an outright enraged Batman, glaring and scowling at the Joker as the Joker glared and grinned at his presence. It was as if the Joker was expecting Batman.

Before Batman could run to him and end his monstrosities, the Joker yanked Harleen closer to him with great force, pressing a knife against her throat as he stared down at the Dark Knight, forcing the Caped Crusader to halt quickly. Harleen looked worried as her eyes raced around, but was not terrified like the other less-fortunate hostages…she hardly put up a fight.

"Not. A. Step. Batboob," chuckled the Joker menacingly, "If you do, it will be me who will cut her pretty little throat and drops of her crimson blood will spill on the roof without stop! And you will be the cause! In fact! I dare you! I double dare you! I **Triple Dog Dare **you!"

Batman continued to glare at the Joker, not moving an inch but his eyes never stopping from locking on to the menacing creature. With a chuckle, Joker stepped back slowly to the Black Mask's helicopter, his eyes meeting his with no stop.

"Now! If I find anyone following me, be it you, that Big Blue Blowhard, or any of your so-called friends, Doc Quinzel will be utter dogmeat," threatened the Joker, then sighing with melancholy and saying with a frown, "Don't take this the wrong way pumpkin, I would SOOO love to go all en garde with you which ends with a loud climax, but I have a job to do…and well…"

"What are you talking about, Joker?" growled Batman, clenching his fists, "What job? Who are you working for, Joker? Tell me!"

Joker looked at him, grinning with a dark aura as he chuckled slightly, putting one foot into the helicopter with his knife against Harleen Quinzel's neck as she was limp like a doll, her eyes looking up at the seductive Joker. "You ever heard what happened to the man who got everything he ever wanted, Batman?"

Joker threw Harleen inside roughly, the doctor letting out a mousy squeak as she hit the floor. The Clown Prince jumped on the helicopter dramatically, grinning madly as he said with a chuckle and a bow, "He lived happily. Ever. After.** NYAAAHAAA HA HAAA HAAAAA! AAAAHAAA HAAAAAA HA HAAAAA!**"

With everyone inside, the chopper began to take off as the Black Mask's disguised men ran behind Batman, shooting their automatics wildly at him. Before said bullets could impact the Dark Knight as he held his cape in his only way of defense, the Man of Steel zipped forward in the speed of light and deflected the bullets with his Olympian chest.

The men were completely dumbfounded as the Man of Steel moved in a blur and quickly gave each of the False Facers a strike in the face, his strength easily knocking each out with the punch of a God. When he noticed the helicopter quickly flying away, he was ready to take off after it before Batman ran up to him and placed his hand firmly on his shoulder.

"Stand your ground, Superman, the Joker has a hostage with him," Batman informed, with Superman glaring at the Dark Knight. Batman sighed and said with defeat, "If we follow him…he'll kill the hostage. Normally, I'd let you do it…but he **is **the Joker…"

Superman watched him as the Dark Knight walked to the edge of the asylum roofs and was forced to gaze as the helicopter began making its way to the dark city. "That is an Arkham helicopter," explained Batman, "Jeremiah has a tracker imbedded in the machine. His controlling yet secure nature should help us in the long run in finding the Joker and Doctor Harleen Quinzel."

"What about Scarecrow? And the Team?" asked Superman, stepping next to Batman as they both looked at the night sky.

"Scarecrow has been incapacitated, J'onn tells me that Miss Martian left Crane incredibly bludgeoned, a move I would've done myself in her situation," admitted the Dark Knight, "And the Team are cured of the toxin, yet…one was given too much of the liquid form and has been chemically poisoned, a friend of mine down at Gotham Medical agreed to take a look at him. He said, by the sound of my description, wouldn't be much of a challenge."

"…Do you…think they will be alright?" asked a concerned Superman, looking at the Batman, "After…tonight?"

Batman looked down, his breath near silent at the thought. "When I was hit by the Fear Toxin, the time I…stabbed my hand…never really bothered me, I was able to rise above it within a day or two after the incident. But, that's was me…not them…I cannot be certain of that…"

"…You helped them grow, Bruce, you are as much as a father figure to all of them than I…ever will be…" breathed out Superman, standing beside a man he is proud to call friend, "…I know they will survive…I bet my bottom dollar…"

* * *

**ARKHAM ISLAND**

**October 26, 8:30 PM**

The GCPD covered the doors as the large doors of the Asylum opened before them, a light from inside shining into the darkness of the night and illuminating the ground before it.

The members of the Justice League standing like statues as they watched Batman and Superman walk out, with a group of figures behind them, following them. The souls of Arkham, the nurses, the guards, the doctors, those who survived hell, were freed. Paramedics rushing to them and setting them down quickly, healing any wound that befell them.

From there, Batman turned around to see two more figures walking out as more paramedics ran into the building, for the poisoned. He saw that which made his heart glow, his physical person lying greatly as he saw Robin escorted out with a disheveled Jeremiah Arkham.

Robin, covered in dirt and sweat, saw his father-figure standing there before the doors, waiting for him. A sigh of relief escaped his lips before he ran to him, running and constricting his arms around him upon impact. Batman didn't hesitate to reply in kind.

"I…I did it…" let out Robin, laughing a bit, "I…I did it, Batman…"

"I know, I'm so proud of you," replied Batman, getting him to his feet as their hug ended, Batman placing his hand on his shoulder as his protégé smiled up to him…a smile that was there the day he first became Robin.

"…We're going to take you to Gotham Medical, Robin…" said Batman, "Our personal physician will take a look and…fix you up." Batman couldn't help but finish with a smirk, happy to see him alive and proud to see him overcome the demons of Gotham.

From inside, Aqualad limped out with Artemis holding his arm against her shoulders as they moved out of hell together.

Aqualad quickly raced to them with Green Arrow and Black Canary right behind him. The young heroine helped her leader up as he looked weakly to his king running to him, only to collapse into his arms as Black Canary held her hands to his shoulders.

"He's dehydrated," said Aquaman, then turning to Black Canary as he helped Aqualad down, "Get him water, quick." Black Canary said nothing as she rushed to one of the ambulances, hoping to find a bottle of water for the young hero.

"Aqualad…Kaldur…answer," let out Aquaman as Aqualad could only look at the shores, seeing the black water with white light glimmering from the surface. A pair of eyes glared at him from the surface, only to submerge once it looked into his, disappearing into the deep.

"…The mission…" breathed out Aqualad, "The mission…was a success…" Aquaman smiled down at him as Black Canary raced back to him, kneeling down and helping the water bottle into Kaldur's lips, the cold water rushing down his mouth as his throat grew wet.

Green Arrow walked over to Artemis, who looked away shamefully. He placed a hand on her shoulder, forcing her to glance at him slowly. He looked at her with a smile and nodded proudly, causing her to release a slight smirk that disappeared.

As Martian Manhunter walked to the rest of the League, with his beloved niece in his arms with her mind tired and her eyes resting, the paramedics could be heard rambling to himself as they wheeled someone out the doors.

In the bed, it was Superboy, restrained by straps as his eyes sank and his groans weak. The paramedics hurried him down the path to the nearby ambulance, his body poisoned by the toxins inside him.

They rushed past Superman, who saw the poor boy on that bed, sick and hurt. He couldn't stop staring at his plight, shocked at what looked like him was in pain. He watched as the ambulance doors closed behind Superboy and driving to the ferry back to the mainland.

Superman watched as the ferry drove through the waters, fast as it could, as Batman walked over to the Man of Steel.

"Superman…" he said simply.

"Batman…I…" stammered Superman, not sure what to say, "I need to go…I'll…see you back at the Watchtower." With that, the Kryptonian flew into the sky and sped to the dark wound of Gotham, leaving Batman with the Team and their mentors.

He turned to see Martian Manhunter walk to him with M'gann in his arms. "Believe me, J'onn, I am sorry for all this," apologized Batman with disappointment in himself, "It should be me wheeled out of here."

"What happened cannot be changed, rejoice that we have our children back," replied Martian Manhunter, cradling her sleeping niece in his arms, "They are safe, the mission succeeded, and the Scarecrow has been neutralized."

After he said this, they both turned around to see paramedics wheel in Crane. He moaned as he was lost in unconsciousness, breathing mask over his bloody mouth as one of the paramedics walked over to Jeremiah, who paced around with a cigarette in hand.

"Crane is badly injured, he has a concussion, his skull fractured, and has a few broken ribs," explained the paramedic, "Do you have any-"

"Put him in his damn cell!" growled Arkham, swiping his cigarette out of his mouth, "Let him sleep it off for a while! We have more important people to take care of right now! Help those children…leave Crane to me…"

With the paramedic walking away from the abused Arkham, he looked over to a nearby cop and the flask dangling from his belt. He tapped his shoulder with the cop looking straight at Arkham.

"Mind if I have a drink?" asked Arkham, glancing at the flask.

The cop looked down and shrugged, grabbing the flask and handing it over to the doctor. "By all means, you deserve it. Though, it's pretty mild stuff. It's lemonade with alcohol in it, mild but-"

"Yeah, yeah," grumbled Arkham as he swiped the flask out of his hands and took a large gulp, tasting the sweet bitter taste of the liquid and drinking it like a fish. He has been through hell and back, stared the devil in the face, and failed at being the hero…

He deserved it.

* * *

**MOUNT JUSTICE**

**October 28, 10:45 AM**

"Recognized. Aqualad. B02"

Aqualad walked out of the Zeta-Beam to find Wally West sitting on the couch, twiddling his fingers as he hung his head low before the Atlantean. Wally sat their as a civilian as he looked beaten inside.

He didn't even notice Kaldur, looking up with a blank face, which sported a forced smirk before him. "Hey, Kaldur…how's it hangin'?"

"Wally, where are the rest of the Team?" asked Kaldur curiously.

"Still in the hospital…looks like you got out early," replied Wally with a slight laugh.

"Yes…the doctor said I made a full recovery," replied Kaldur, he watched as Wally replied with a slight nod. He stepped closer, asking, "Is there…something you'd wish to say…Kid Flash?"

"…Kaldur…the simulation…" he said, holding back his words as best as he could, "It…it did affect me…"

He took a deep breath and looked at his friend dead in the eyes, his expression lost and morose. "Seeing Artemis die…I thought I lost her…seeing people die left and right left me…lost, man. I denied it, I denied it and took on a, well…mask. I can hide pain pretty good, Kaldur, you gotta know that…I could've kept it inside all my life…"

"What made you change your mind?" questioned a concerned Aqualad, "Was it…the Asylum?"

"Yeah…" he released, the word hidden by a breath, "But…damn, I really thought that the last time I'd see you, would be me…lying about the whole damn thing. I watched the news, I was worried, my parents were worried, my uncle was worried. It looked…horrible. I thought you'd die down there, all of you. Hell, Flash had to stop me from racing down there because of the Joker's threat…it took him, my dad, my aunt, and Jay to keep me from racing down like a fool to save you guys." With that, he couldn't help but release a amused yet relieved laugh, like a great weight off his chest has flown off.

Aqualad smiled, smiled like he never did before. He walked over and placed his hand on his shoulder, kneeling down before him and looking into his smiling friend's eyes. "Thank you, Wally, I appreciated it."

"Anytime, bud," chuckled Wally, with both of the heroes looking over to the transporter as it activated before them.

"Recognized. Robin. B01. Artemis. B07. Superboy. B04. Thomas Elliot. A09."

From the Zeta-Beam walked out Superboy, Artemis, and Robin, along with one more person the computer introduced.

He was a tall well-built man, built like Batman himself. He had short red hair, a calm and inviting smile, green caring eyes, and a strong doctor's chin. He wore a doctor's uniform, with a black turtleneck and a necklace around his neck with a jade ring-like stone at the end of it.

"Tommy! My man!" greeted Wally happily, getting up and walking to the man, "How are my friends?"

"Fine, no worse than the time Flash got mauled by Killer Croc last year," chuckled Thomas, "But, everything is fine, like it never happened at all."

"Damn, you are awesome!" laughed Kid Flash, raising his fist and pressing it against Thomas' in a friendly manner.

"So, we're…fine?" asked Superboy, "I'm…not sick?"

"Stick a needle, Superboy," replied the doctor, "I was able to get the chemicals out of your system, wasn't easy. You Kryptonians have thick skins. The rest of your friends were easy pickings."

"Well, you are the best," complimented Robin with a wink.

"No doubt," said Thomas with a smile, winking back, "Now, I want all of you to rest and relax all week, I told the League to leave out missions for physical and possibly mental recovery. Besides, Halloween is coming, save your energy for the sugar rush and pranks. Coming from a doctor sounds strange, eh?"

He looked at his watch, then looking at the Team and saying, "I need to get back to Gotham Medical, Leslie still needs me with the injured hostages from Arkham. Tell Batman he owes me. Big time." Thomas then waved as he backed away and ran back into the Zeta-Beam, disappearing into the light.

"Where's…M'gann?" asked Superboy, looking around, "I…I need to talk to her…"

"She's in Arkham with Batman and Martian Manhunter," replied Artemis with a sigh, "They wanted to make sure everything was alright after the riot. They should be back anytime now."

* * *

**ARKHAM ASYLUM**

**October 28, 11:00 AM**

J'onn and Batman walked down the halls with Jeremiah Arkham, the inmates in their cells as GCPD officers took place for the guards for the time being. Arkham looked stressed, eyes tired, and his mouth dry.

"You wouldn't believe how much the city is giving **me** crap about the situation. The security wasn't tight enough. Scarecrow should have stayed in Belle Reve. As if it is all **my** fault. Bastards," he growled out, pulling out a cigarette and quickly lighting it, "Been dreading the phone, waiting for Hugo to call and say _I told you so_. Haven't even drank liquor until that night…look at me now. Tempted to sink deeper into the damn bottle."

"Easy, Arkham. This was out of your control, you were thinking of Crane's best interests," calmed Martian Manhunter, "This was **his** fault, not yours. What is the situation of the inmates?"

"Well, all of them, save Roman Sionis, Waylon Jones, Jervis Tetch, Julian Day, and the Joker, are in their cells," explained Arkham calmly, "As you know, Maximillian Zeus disappeared last night, during that flash rainstorm. And finally, Victor Zsasz, Lazlo Valentin, and Harvey Dent are all in solitary confinement. Joined by our old friend Jonathan Crane."

"In time, the Asylum will be fully operational again," explained Batman, "Don't worry, we all know you did everything in your power to help your establishment."

"And what of Harleen Quinzel?" asked Arkham, stopping dead in his tracks as the two stood behind him, "Joker took her away, abducting her…and as I stated before, I think he repeatedly raped her."

"I…noted it…but, I am still uneasy with the idea that Joker raped her," replied Batman, shaking his head slightly, "I know him, he isn't a rapist. He may socialize abundantly with those kind of people, but I never knew him to find it…all that amusing. It's not his style."

"Are you suggesting that she willingly let him _have his way _with her?" interrogated an offended Arkham, turning to the Batman with a condescending glare.

"I'm not saying that at all, Arkham," said Batman, "It just…that this would be a new low for him…"

"I understand your opposition, but when I found her, she was in a state of undress and it was quite obvious from her body language!" continued Arkham angrily, then calming down as he pinched the bridges of his nose, "What of the helicopter? Did you find any clues?"

"When we found the helicopter in Suicide Swamp, it was already abandoned and heavily wrecked, presumably by the criminals," added Martian Manhunter, "Trust me, the League will do everything in their power to find Dr. Quinzel. I promise you." Arkham simply replied with a slight nod, turning away and leaving the two alone together as he wandered down the haunted halls of his uncle.

"Are you sure Miss Martian should be here?" asked Batman cautiously.

"She insisted she speak with the Scarecrow," sighed a worried Martian Manhunter, "She wanted to exchange a few last words to him…"

* * *

**ARKHAM ASYLUM SOLITARY CONFINEMENT**

**October 28, 10:59 AM**

In front of the glass wall was M'gann, staring at it as she saw Crane lean against the padded walls, in a straight jacket and his head covered in bandages.

"Well, here we are…you in a cell, me looking down at you," said M'gann calmly, "I bet you hoped you'd see me in the cell…I bet you wish you won."

"Who says I lost? You? The League? The media?" hissed Crane as he gave a broken smile to her, much to her discomfort, "In the end, fear is the Maria and-"

"Usually, I wouldn't say things like this, but seriously, **cut the crap**," sternly berated Miss Martian, "You lost, deal with it. Enough of your fear worship."

"No, my dear, you came here asking for questions about things you don't know," said Crane calmly, "Things that you wish to find out before they reveal themselves. I am sorry, I don't have those answers. All I can say is that I am not friends with your enemies. That is all."

"That is all?" reiterated Miss Martian, raising an eyebrow.

"That…is all, dear Megan," sighed Jonathan Crane, who frowned and said with false sadness, "And with those questions unanswered, it is time for you to go, hm? Oh, how sad. Parting truly is such sweet sorrow."

He grinned and said, "Still…can't say I didn't show you a good time, Megan."

"Goodbye, Professor Crane," finished M'gann quickly, "I hope we never meet again." She tuned away and began walking quickly down the hall out of the solitary confinement area.

"Enjoy yourself! Enjoy yourself out there, Megan!" he called to her as she walked away, hiding herself from the world, "Enjoy yourself…in the Asylum. Just don't forget…if it gets to tough out there…"

His final words hit her in the bone as she walked out the doors, his words echoing into her brain as she was ready to leave this house of horrors.

"There's always a place for you here," he finished, his grin present as the doors slammed and the lights turned out, leaving him in blackness, darkness, in his own insane terrifying being.

* * *

Two-Face, sat on his bed, looking at his silver dollar. He sat there as he rubbed the back of his neck, his good eye and his bad eye staring down at it. His concentration was broken when he heard a tap on his cell door, seeing Aaron Cash stand in front of it. The security guard smiled and nodded to him, walking away with a grin.

Two-Face returned to his coin, looking at it and looking at the side it flipped on. The side it flipped on two nights ago, in the asylum. When he chose to free them from the death he was to inflict them with.

The side it was on, was tails.

It should've been then and there, where he would have ended their lives at the spot. But he chose to spare them all. He himself was not sure why, why he broke his own rules for his enemy and the hostages.

His mind ran to Gilda, his love, his wife. He wondered if she remarried, he wondered if she still loved him. He remembered his old friend, Bruce Wayne. Friend's to the end, never ending, he still visits him in his hell in Arkham. He then remembered Sal Maroni, the man who scarred his face, and the one who christened him into this new life. In a way, Harvey was thankful of his new life.

He flipped the coin around his fingers, smiling down at it as he breathed slowly. His gaze looking at the light shimmering from the metal, losing himself slightly.

"I was the coin…that night," he said to himself, "Just that once…for you…just for you…"

With that, he looked out into the day sky, the sun shining from the window as it glimmered down to his lap. He looked at the sun, seeing it as another coin in the sky, but it was the good side…the right side.

And so, God made life.

* * *

**The Banana Slug: Finished…it's finished.**

**Well, I hope you were all happy to see my attempt to be Grant Morrison. Wonder if I failed. Who knows.**

**Anyway, I feel good. I am happy I finished this. It really needed to be finished. I really hope you liked this story, I did my best in writing this fanfic. And coming from a guy who mostly writes smut and crack, that's saying something.**

**If I do another YJ fanfic, it will either be about Hector Hammond, Brainiac, or Zoom. Maybe another Prof. Pyg chapter.**

**Anyway, thanks for the nice words. Good Night and Good Luck.**


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